


Transience

by DragonSilk



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh!
Genre: Bullying, Drama, F/M, Fluff, Humor, Light-Hearted, Reader-Insert, Romance, high school romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-01-24
Updated: 2017-10-25
Packaged: 2017-11-26 16:58:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 28
Words: 30,825
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/652451
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DragonSilk/pseuds/DragonSilk
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Whenever you were around, Kaiba found himself slightly off balance. You treated him just like any other person, teased him as if he were a friend, and ignored him when he tried to intimidate you. He was just a classmate to you, but to him, you were a confusing whirlwind. Nothing about you made sense.</p><p>Seto Kaiba/Reader</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. First Day of School

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! Nor am I making any profit off of this story. 
> 
> I originally wrote this in response to a challenge. Each chapter was inspired by one of the challenge's prompts.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: First Day of School

Seto Kaiba was leaving school for a meeting when you ran into him. Literally. The impact caused you to bounce back and fall onto the floor. He barely moved, but his side did feel a bit sore where you rammed into him. Not that he would admit that to anyone, ever. 

“Watch where you're going!” he snapped, sure that the unknown girl would cower in his presence. 

You leaped to your feet and bowed, looking down at the ground rather than at the person you almost ran over. “I'm so sorry! It's my first day, and I don't know where anything is, and I'm running late for class, and—” You looked up, your voice trailing off as you stared directly at Kaiba's face. “You look familiar...” Then the bell, notifying students that class was beginning, rang. “Crap!” You slapped your forehead. “Do you know where the music hall is?”

Kaiba simply stared at you. People didn't normally babble in his presence, and when they did, it was normally a nervous please-don't-kill-or-fire-me sort of babble. Not random nonsense. He pointed in the direction of the music hall. “Look for Room 100.”

You bowed again. “Thank you so much, mister!” Then you ran off in the direction of the music hall. 

_Mister_? Kaiba stared after you, wondering if he really looked old enough to be a teacher.


	2. Assigned Seats

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Assigned Seats

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Because I'm trying to avoid being cliche. :D This is very short, but we'll be coming back to this particular class again in the future.

He didn't know why there was a girl sitting at his computer. He always sat at the computer on the very end. It was his computer, and everyone knew it. He'd made all the necessary changes to the computer to ensure that it was up to his normal standards. If the school was going to force him to work on one of their computers during a class, then he would at least ensure that the computer in question was stable, reliable, and fast. 

Kaiba loomed over the girl. “What are you doing?” 

You looked up from your book, startled at the interruption. “Are you the teacher?” You shoved your book back into your bag and stood, offered your hand for him to shake, and introduced yourself. “I just transferred to this school a week ago. Nobody told me they had a programming class! I was signed up for a stupid choir class instead, but I transferred into this class as soon as I heard about it.”

At first, Kaiba wondered why everyone seemed to be confusing him for an adult, then he realized that you were the same girl who ran into him in the hallways. “I'm not the teacher. Now get out of my way.” You weren't in his seat anymore, but he couldn't sit down while you were standing in front of it. 

You looked around and took a step back. Unfortunately that step back also happened to be a step closer to his computer. 

He pointed at the chair you were previously occupying. “That's my seat.” 

“Oh. OH!” You scrambled away from the computer, clutching your stuff close to you. “I'm sorry! I didn't know this class had assigned seating.” 

“It doesn't.” Kaiba sat down and began typing in his log-in information. He ignored the confused look that you were sending him. 

Not wanting to sit next to someone so rude, you decided to sit down at a computer on the opposite side of the room.

Kaiba had half-expected you to sit at the computer next to him. He was a little surprised, but pleased, when you didn't. He certainly didn't want you to sit next to him anyway.


	3. Partner

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Partner

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Because making the reader his partner is entirely too cliche~ ;D

Kaiba hated group projects. He hated them even more when his partner acted like a lovesick puppy. The boy spent the entire class just staring at the girl across the room. 

Kaiba didn't understand the appeal. You weren't that attractive. Sure, you were one of the only girls in the class, but that didn't mean that you were interesting or even remotely intelligent. 

Being in this class didn't require intelligence. His current partner was evidence of that.

"Just look at her smile! Oh, why do you think she's smiling like that? Did that guy say—”

“Shut up!” he ordered his partner. Kaiba was absolutely sick of hearing about the way your hair moved or whatever the hell his partner was saying. “Ask her out or shut up.” 

“You're right! I should ask her out!” 

Kaiba was relieved that the boy would finally get rejected and shut up. Then the boy grabbed his keyboard and entered the class chat room. Before Kaiba could stop him, the boy typed up a message to you, asking you if you would go out with him.

Kaiba wrestled the keyboard back from the boy. “What the hell are you doing?! Ask her out on your own computer!” 

Then a return message from you showed up. 

“No. You're kind of an asshole Kaiba. No offense.” 

Kaiba was going to kill his partner for sending the message from his account. At least that way, his partner would be dead, and Kaiba would finally be able to work in peace.


	4. Picture Day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Picture Day

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Is anyone impressed that I'm managing to write a reader character who just doesn't care about Kaiba one way or another? (It's hard because I, personally, would be all over that man. He'd take out a restraining order on me.) She could take him or leave him. (At least... that's what I'm trying to do... D:)
> 
> Enjoy~

Since you were new to the school, you were still getting used to the way it was run. Keeping track of all your new classes was hard enough, trying to keep track of all the events on campus was something you weren't going to attempt. 

So you didn't hear about picture day until it was too late. You showed up to school on that day, looking the same way you normally did. You didn't realize that something was going on until you noticed the way all the girls seemed to be standing in front of their lockers and staring into their mirrors. 

The massive amounts of curled hair gave it away. It was picture day. Girls didn't show up to school looking like dolls on any other day of the year.

You shrugged it off at first. There was nothing you could do about it at this point. At least your hair wasn't a complete mess. 

Since you didn't know what you were supposed to do, you didn't realize that all P.E. classes were canceled for the day. You reported to P.E. only to discover that the locker rooms were locked and that you should be in the theater having your picture taken.

You had no idea where the theater was and ended up in the library instead. The room was almost empty. Kaiba was the only person present, and he was sitting all the way in the back with his stuff spread out across a desk. You cautiously approached him. 

“Hey, Kaiba, don't you have P.E. right now?”

He didn't look up or respond to your question. Clearly, you weren't worth his time. 

Jerk.

Whatever. It didn't matter. The answer to your question was yes. You only knew that because he was in your class and made everyone look bad without trying. He stood out and everyone hated him because of that. So you knew that he should be in the theater with the rest of your class. 

Still, he wasn't in the theater, and he didn't seem to be concerned with heading that way. If you stayed in the library with him, maybe you could blame him if you got in trouble. You didn't feel like having your picture taken today. It was one of those days where you couldn't quite remember if you'd brushed your teeth while rushing around trying to get ready for school without being late. A picture was out of the question. 

You dropped your bag to the ground and sank into one of the seats at Kaiba's table. **That** actually made him look up. “Go away.”

“Oh shove off.” You weren't in the mood for his I'll-only-talk-to-you-if-I-want-to-be-rude attitude. “This table is more than big enough for the two of us. It seats _eight_. Besides, I want to talk to you.” 

“I don't have time to deal with you, and I doubt you have anything of interest to say.” Kaiba went back to work. Maybe he was hoping that if he didn't see you then you would stop existing. 

You just rolled your eyes. He treated everyone like this, and you weren't going to take it personally. “Look. I've been receiving some creepy anonymous love letters recently, and I wanted to know if they were from you.” You honestly doubted they were, but you had no clue who they could be from, and he _had_ asked you out that once.

“In what universe would I send you a love letter? Don't flatter yourself.” Then he muttered, “Idiot,” under his breath, just loud enough for you to hear. 

“Oh, I don't know, in the universe where I turned you down after you asked me out over the internet? Sound familiar?”

Kaiba growled and slammed a fist down on the table. “I told you that wasn't me. Drop it. You're not even remotely attractive.”

You grabbed your bag and stood. “Whatever you say Kaiba." It was convenient that the boy he claimed had been the one to ask you out had also transferred schools, but you weren't going to bring that up. You didn't want to talk to Kaiba for longer than you needed to. "Look, you don't have to tell me if you're the one leaving the letters in my locker. I don't care. I just think they're creepy and want them to stop.” They were the creepiest things you'd ever read. You could barely bring yourself to put your uniform on in the morning knowing that somewhere in your school, someone was imagining you naked. The skimpy uniform probably helped them imagine your legs accurately, and it made you uncomfortable. “If it's not you, then feel free to punch any guy you see near my locker. It's the locker right beneath yours, if you'll care to remember.” 

Then you moved to another table. You still didn't feel like having your picture taken, especially not when some creeper might stare at it in the yearbook.


	5. Stalker

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Stalker

Kaiba hated being faced with other people's problems. The problems of others were not his problems, and they brought those problems on themselves. He should not be expected to help them. 

Except he was pretty sure it would be bad publicity if he just let a female student get assaulted by a male student. Kaiba may not have liked you very much, but that didn't mean he wanted you to get attacked by some guy. 

At the same time, Kaiba just did not want to get involved. You might start to see him as some sort of Prince Charming and develop an obsession with him. He had too many obsessed fangirls; he didn't need more. 

Then the guy grabbed you by the hair and began to drag you even further away from the school. Kaiba swore under his breath. He was going to have to get involved. This looked serious, and if the press ever found out that he stood by when he could have prevented whatever was about to happen, he'd get completely swarmed with negative media. 

He strode toward the two of you, wondering why you were so incompetent that you couldn't protect yourself. People should never need to rely on others. At some point, you should have taken some sort of self-defense class. 

Then you pulled something out of your bag. You reached back and gave your assailant a face full of pepper spray. Kaiba stopped in his tracks, surprised, as your assailant howled in pain and released you. You stood up straight, knocked the guy over by swinging your bag into him, and then kicked him in the stomach. 

“Don't you dare try to grab at a girl ever again, asshole!” You sprayed the stuff into his face once more before turning on your heel and walking back toward the school. As you approached the school, you noticed Kaiba standing there and watching you. 

You paused in front of him for a moment. “Enjoy the show, Kaiba? I hope you aren't too disappointed by the outcome.” Your tone let him know exactly what you thought of the fact that he was just standing there.

He opened his mouth to say something in his defense, but he didn't know what to say, and you were already gone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wanted to make the reader strong enough to handle herself but not strong enough to compete on Kaiba's level. I don't want to tell the story of Kaiba meets a female Kaiba clone. At the same time, I thought it would be more fun if she could rescue herself. I put some thought into it and decided this reader would start carrying mace or pepper spray the moment those letters got too creepy. So you guys got this. What do you think? Yes? No?


	6. Making a New Friend

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Making a New Friend

Kaiba never noticed you in the cafeteria before. He didn't often eat lunch at school and was in the library during the lunch hour more often than not, but he occasionally found himself in the cafeteria during lunch. 

Today was one of those rare days. As he surveyed the room, searching for an empty table, his eyes landed on you. You were sitting by yourself, at a table of your own, with your stuff spread out across the table. 

He recognized you from the incident a few days ago. He hated to admit it, but that incident had played through his mind quite a few times over the past few days. He felt like he should have done or said something. He didn't have any sort of obligation toward you, but he still felt uncomfortable whenever he thought of the incident. 

Kaiba reminded himself that you hadn't needed him to do anything. There was no reason for that incident to keep bothering him. He found himself walking over to your table and told himself that he was only walking over there because all the other tables were full. 

Then a girl walked up to your table. You looked up with a cautious smile. Kaiba couldn't hear what was being said, but the girl motioned toward a seat. You nodded and the girl sat down across from you. 

Kaiba turned away and glared at a bunch of freshmen until they vacated their table and ran out of the cafeteria.


	7. Awkward/Embarrassing Moment

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Awkward/Embarrassing Moment

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Why hello worst day ever~  
> I think the reader handles it quite well.

You weren't a huge fan of P.E. Getting sweaty in the middle of the day just wasn't your cup of tea. 

That didn't mean that you sat back and did nothing. Some of the girls in your class just stood around, unwilling to get sweaty. You, on the other hand, always tried your best. It didn't matter if you were good or bad at the sport of the month, you still tried your hardest. 

So when the sport of the month was volleyball, you spent your time diving after every ball that came your way. Even though you'd never played volleyball before now, you still tried to hit the ball over the net and back at the other team. 

It was easier when you were in the front. Spiking the ball was difficult, but you could usually get the ball back over the net at least. When you were positioned toward the back, sometimes your hits didn't always get the ball over the net. The more competitive members of your team always shot you dirty looks when that happened, but you couldn't help it, volleyball simply wasn't your sport. You still did your best to avoid actually hitting someone with the ball. 

Then... it happened. You accidentally hit someone. But not **just** anyone...

You were positioned in the back center. It was the result of rotation and not a choice of your own. The ball didn't often come your way back there, and even when it did, Seto Kaiba was right in front of you, so he often managed to hit the ball before it got to you. 

Still, the ball somehow managed to make its way to your position. You took a few steps back and got ready to hit it. The ball reached you, and you swung at it with as much force as you could manage. 

You hit the ball at entirely the wrong angle. It became a scene out of nightmares as it flew forward and slammed into the back of Kaiba's head. 

“Ohhhhh... CRAP!” You jumped forward and grabbed the boy. “Are you okay?” You ran a hand across the back of his head, feeling for a lump. 

He shoved you away. “Get off of me!” He rubbed the back of his own head. “The goal is to hit the ball _over the net_. **Not** at your own teammate.”

“I'm sorry. It wasn't intentional.” You took an extra step back. 

“That's even worse! Maybe you shouldn't touch the ball at all you clumsy woman! Why don't you stand back and leave the game to those of us who are competent?” 

You shouldn't have been surprised by Kaiba's behavior. He was rude to everyone even when he was in a good mood. It was expected that he would lash out when you had hit him with a volleyball. “Well, you're acting like you normally do, so I can see there's no lasting damage. I'm really sorry about that.” Then you backed away to your original spot on the court.

Kaiba's glare followed your movement, but you simply smiled in return. 

Then he stalked toward you, and you had to hide your fear. You sincerely hoped that he wasn't about to punch you. He didn't seem like the sort of man who would care about hitting a woman. 

Luckily, he didn't punch you. He grabbed your arm in a vice-like grip and dragged you back to where he was previously standing. "Stay here," he ordered, before releasing you and storming over to your previous position on the court. 

You glanced over at your teacher, wondering if he was just going to let Kaiba tell you where to stand, but he simply seemed to be gaping at the two of you. He made eye contact with you, and that seemed to shake him out of his thoughts. 

He blew his whistle. "Okay, show's over! Get back to the game!"


	8. Studying/Tutoring

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Studying/Tutoring

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The prompt is barely relevant, and you aren't even in this one.
> 
> You know, for one of the main characters in a romantic pairing, you're not getting very much attention are you? Maybe you should call your agent~

Once a week, Mokuba volunteered at their old orphanage. Kaiba had been the one who suggested that Mokuba do some volunteer work, but when Mokuba had suggested the orphanage, Kaiba had worried that it would bring back old memories. 

He was glad that wasn't the case. Mokuba seemed to enjoy going to the orphanage, and when Kaiba picked him up afterward, he was always full of energy. At first, Kaiba had picked up Mokuba to make sure that he was okay after his visits. Now Kaiba picked him up because he enjoyed listening to his little brother chatter on and on about all the children he tutored. 

That didn't mean that Kaiba was happy to see his brother waiting for him with that stupid girl from his P.E. class. Mokuba was waving his arms around as he spoke and grinning at you. You smiled down at him and actually seemed to be listening to what Mokuba had to say.

_Why were you talking to his brother?_ Stupid woman. You should be hiding under a rock and worrying about the ways he would get back at you for the incident during volleyball. Putting yourself in his path was not smart. 

He pulled over his car and stopped the engine, intending to get out and ask you what you were doing near his brother. He wanted to demand an explanation. Before he could get out, Mokuba saw his car and waved goodbye to you. Kaiba unbuckled his seat belt, but you were already walking back into the orphanage. 

A spiteful and hypocritical part of him hoped that you were an orphan. He wouldn't normally wish that on anyone, but you were truly annoying. 

Then Mokuba opened the car door and threw himself into the passenger seat, and Kaiba tried to hide his negative emotions. His brother knew how cruel he could be toward other people, but Kaiba still didn't want him to catch onto his thoughts about you. 

He underestimated Mokuba. 

“What's wrong, big brother? Did something happen today?”

Kaiba swore inwardly and restarted the car. “No, nothing.” He rebuckled his seat belt before putting the car back into drive. “How was your day, Mokuba?”

“Fun! We did an experiment in science. Mine turned out fine, but then one of the other kids somehow set something on fire, and the fire alarm went off, and the fire had to be put out, and we were excused from the rest of class!”

Kaiba listened to his little brother ramble as he easily navigated his car through the streets of Domino. When his brother paused for breath, he took the opportunity to interject with, “Should we stop for ice cream?” 

“YES!” Mokuba's reaction was instantaneous, but after a moment, Kaiba could tell that his little brother was studying him. The car was silent for a moment as Mokuba tried to figure out where Kaiba's question had come from. “You must have had a good day,” Mokuba cautiously said. 

“Not exceptionally, no.” Kaiba was nothing if not honest with his little brother. “How was volunteering today? Who was the woman talking to you? A new worker?” 

“No... she's a volunteer, too. I've told you about her.” Mokuba speech slowed down. A sure sign that he was suspicious. “She tutors some of the kids there, too.” Then Mokuba seemed to make a connection. “She goes to Domino High. Do you know her, big brother?” 

Kaiba internally swore. He wanted information about you, but he didn't want his little brother to know anything about his interactions with you. They were too strange, and some of them were downright embarrassing. So Kaiba decided to give Mokuba the edited version. “She's just a classmate. What were the two of you talking about?”

“We didn't really talk about anything.” Mokuba was grinning. Kaiba could see his brother's massive grin out of the corner of his eye. He tried to ignore it as he focused on finding somewhere to park his car. 

Mokuba refused to say any more on the matter, which frustrated Kaiba. “You were saying something to her. What was she doing standing with you?” 

“She didn't want me to get grabbed by anyone while I was waiting for you.” Mokuba laughed. “I tried telling her I can take care of myself, but she wouldn't believe me. I think she thinks I'm, like, ten or something.” 

Kaiba parked the car, knowing that his brother would get carried away and eventually tell him what he wanted to know. 

He was right. Mokuba continued to talk as they walked to the ice cream store. “I tried to tell her that I'm **thirteen** , but I don't know if she even believed me, so I started telling her about all the classes I'm taking at school, but she said that didn't prove anything and I could still get kidnapped. So we talked for a while while I waited for you, and I told her about putting that fake spider in your secretary's desk a few days ago. Then you showed up. Oh, I want a triple cone with chocolate, and mint chocolate chip, and brownie fudge!” 

Kaiba raised an eyebrow but placed his brother's order. He ordered a single scoop of vanilla for himself before paying the cashier. As he waited for his ice cream, he voiced the question on his mind. “Did she say anything about me?”

Mokuba simply gave him a blank stare before grinning. His voice took on a teasing lilt. “No. Why would she?” 

Kaiba decided to ignore that question, and he hoped that Mokuba would just take his ice cream and drop the subject. 

Mokuba wasn't ready to give up just yet. Just like any little brother, he latched on to the opportunity to tease his elder brother. “You said she was just a classmate, so why do you think she'd talk about you?” 

In that moment, Kaiba knew that he would regret asking about you. He just didn't know how much Mokuba would make him regret it.


	9. Crush (Part 1)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Crush

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There's two parts to this prompt. I've separated them because they're essentially in different points of view. However I would like to post them close together.  
> Prompt: Crush

“Big brother and big sister sitting in a tree! K-I-S-S—”

“Mokuba.”

“I-N-G!”

“Mokuba,” Kaiba nearly growled. “You're giving me a headache.” 

Mokuba ignored Kaiba's warning. “You _like_ her,” he sang. “I think you _really_ like her.”

Kaiba had spent the past half hour protesting and trying to explain to Mokuba that he barely even knew the girl. It wasn't working, not that he actually expected it to work in the first place. So he changed tactics. 

He got up from his desk and tossed his little brother over his shoulder. 

“Hey wait!” 

To halt his brother's protestations, Kaiba began to tickle his sides as he carried him out of the room. Mokuba broke out into laughter, barely able to speak much less tease him. As Kaiba set Mokuba down outside his office, he continued to tickle his brother. 

“Ah!” Mokuba snorted. “Sto—stop! I... give!” 

A smirk on his face, Kaiba turned away from his brother. Mokuba was still gasping for breath and unable to stop Kaiba as he locked the door of his office behind him. 

“Want me to see if she likes you too?!” The door's handle jiggled. “I can ask her out if you're scared of rejection!”

Kaiba felt like slamming his head against something. Didn't his brother have anything better to do? 

Then Mokuba began knocking on the door. “Do you wanna _kiss_ her? I bet you imagine kissing her. Oh! Unless you've **already** kissed her! Have you? Have you?”

Kaiba began to wonder if he could just lock his brother up.


	10. Crush Pt. 2

Mokuba Kaiba was normally an adorable little kid.

He stopped seeming adorable the moment he started to ask you about his brother.

At first, you weren't sure who he was talking about. When he told you that Seto Kaiba was his big brother, you weren't surprised. It was the sort of thing that everyone knew. It just wasn't the sort of thing that you had thought about before Mokuba brought it up. You'd never really connected the Kaiba at your school with the Kaiba at your volunteer work. Possibly because you always referred to Mokuba using his first name.

It didn't help that you simply didn't spend much time thinking about Seto Kaiba. He was a boy who glared at everyone and kept to himself.

Not that you could tell Mokuba that. You couldn't tell the kid that his older brother was someone you opted to avoid and ignore. That just seemed too rude. So you lied. “Oh, yeah, we have some classes together. He's... interesting.”

Mokuba stared at you for a moment before he smirked. “Do you think he's sexy?”

“Kid, should you even be using that word?” Really. Having a thirteen-year-old ask you if you found his brother _sexy_ was a more than bit awkward.

“You do! You think he's sexy,” Mokuba practically sang. “You like him~ You really, **really** , like him!”

You didn't know what you had done to deserve this. It was unfair that volunteering to tutor children resulted in this situation. Why should you be punished for trying to be a good person? Okay, maybe it was mostly to look good for college applications but still. “We're just classmates, Mokuba. Really. I barely know your brother, and...” You stopped before telling the kid that you were okay with never getting to know his brother. “I'm just as interested in him as he is in me.” There. That was a nice neutral way to say that you wanted to avoid Kaiba.

“Yay!” Mokuba's cheers caught you completely off guard. “I'm going to get a big sister! Can I call you my big sister?”

“Wha—Yes?” Mokuba looked so happy that you couldn't refuse. “If you want, but please don't... confuse things... I'm not going to date your brother.”

At that point, the kid had stopped listening to you. He was too deep in some fantasy world where you married his big brother and became his big sister.

If you were honest with yourself, it was actually flattering. You hadn't realized that Mokuba liked you enough to want you to be his big sister. It was unfortunate that Kaiba would probably crush the poor kid's dreams. There was absolutely no way that Kaiba would ever be interested in you, especially not after the volleyball incident.


	11. Field Trip

In elementary school, field trips had always been fun. You looked forward them every single time they were announced. They were a day off that usually included somewhere fun like the zoo or the observatory. 

High school field trips could have been fun days too. They were usually trips to educational locations, but they were still days off from school. Except in high school, all your friends decided that they wanted to spend their time with boys during the field trips. After everyone formed their groups, you were usually left standing by yourself and stuck in a group with all the other lonely losers. 

This field trip was probably going to unfold just like all the other ones, and you were resigned to your fate. So on the day of the field trip, you just sat back in your desk with a book. Everyone else was excited, talking about who they wanted to be paired with and what they wanted to do on the trip. You would just be happy if you didn’t get stuck with the guy who picked his nose. 

Then the group sizes were announced. Everyone had to find a group of no more or less than four. Usually the numbers were more flexible than that. 

Three of your friends had planned to form a group of six with their boyfriends. Two of them instantly grouped together, leaving the third one to search for two people for her group. So she pulled her boyfriend over to you.

“Quick! We have to find someone for you to have fun with!” 

You didn’t know if you wanted to be stuck with Kana and her boyfriend. They probably planned to spend the entire time making out. “Maybe you should—”

“No, no,” she interrupted. “This is the perfect opportunity for you! What about Ryou Bakura? He’s kind of cute.” 

“I guess.” You shot a glance at the white-haired boy. “He’s a little…” Well, he was a little too sweet for you really. Somehow he seemed like the kind of guy who would do whatever his girlfriend told him to do. You didn’t like that. “He’s really short.” 

“Ah.” Kana nodded. “You’re right.” She hummed as she looked over the room. 

People were starting to settle into groups, but there were still a bunch of people who had yet to formalize their groups. There were a few groups of people that were much larger than four. They were probably trying to decide who to kick out of the group. 

Then you noticed a cluster of girls in the back of the room. They all seemed to be arguing, and at first, you just assumed they were trying to figure out who would be in their group of four. As they argued, the group seemed to move, and you noticed Kaiba sitting in the center. His elbows were leaning on his desk, and his face was buried in his hands. He didn't seem very happy about his current situation... not that he ever seemed happy about anything. 

He glanced up, suddenly making eye contact with you. You turned away from him. Then you cringed at your own behavior. Getting caught staring at him wasn’t anything to be ashamed of so you didn’t know why you were looking away like a school girl with a crush. 

Kana was still looking in his direction. “Seto Kaiba is staring at you.” 

“No he isn’t. Stop looking at him.” 

“Oh. Oh!” Her jaw dropped. Then she whispered, “He’s coming over here.” 

You shook your head. He might be walking in your direction, but that didn’t mean that he was actually going to approach you.

He stopped and stood next to your desk. You refused to look at him, but Kana, that traitor, smiled up at him. “Hey, Kaiba. We still need someone in our group. Want to join us?” 

You shot her a glare. Spending the entire day with Kaiba was definitely not your idea of fun. 

“No, I do not _want_ to join you... but I suppose your group is acceptable.” 

That made you look up at him. “If you don’t want to join us, we aren’t going to force you.” You smiled and pointed toward the back of the room. “I’m sure plenty of those girls back there would love to spend the day with you.” 

Kaiba grimaced. “No. I’m in your group. The matter is settled.”

“Okay! Now that we have four people, I’m going to submit our group to the teacher!” Kana stood and walked up to the teacher’s desk. Kaiba ignored her and sat down in her vacated seat. 

That seemed to act as some sort of signal for his fangirls. The moment he sat down, you found yourself surrounded by girls asking if they could join your group. You told them that your group was full. You explained that there were already four people in your group. They didn’t seem to hear you, and you almost started to wonder if you were actually speaking. Maybe you just imagined that your lips were moving. 

Kaiba reached a breaking point long before you did. He growled at the girls and stood up from his seat. They all went silent and stared at him as he towered over all of them. “I may have to go on this field trip, but I refuse to get a headache because of stupid girls who can’t shut up. Get lost!” 

The girls scattered, and you couldn’t blame them. You almost wanted to get up and leave in that moment too.

Gradually, the class settled down as everyone found a group. The last few people were stuck in the reject groups, and as you avoided making eye contact with Kaiba, you found yourself wishing that you had been in a reject group too. 

As everyone lined up to leave the classroom, Kana grabbed her boyfriend’s hand and started talking about all the romantic things they could do together. You glanced over at Kaiba, convinced that he was probably going to find some way to make you even more uncomfortable than Kana’s PDA would.

Kaiba didn’t let you down. He refused to ride on the school bus, leaving you to sit all by yourself for the entire trip. 

At that point, you honestly expected him to skip out on the rest of the field trip.


	12. First Snowfall

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So far, this is easily the longest chapter. However, it's not the most exciting. Sorry about that.

Groups were supposed to stick together for the duration of the trip, but the moment the buses stopped, Kana and her boyfriend ditched you so they could go drink tea together. Actually, most of the groups went off to join the tea ceremony the moment they heard that one was going on. 

You could have joined them. Kana was your friend. She would have welcomed your company. Still, you didn't think joining them was the best idea. A tea ceremony could be romantic as long as you weren’t tagging along. Being a third wheel wasn’t on your list of things to do today, and you did have an actual list. 

Of course, when making the list, you had assumed that someone would be there to keep you company. You knew that Kana would run off with her boyfriend. You just hadn’t realized that you would end up with Kaiba as the last member of your group. You were no fool. Kaiba was never going to show up for the field trip. 

He was probably still in Domino, working on something or sleeping or whatever it was that he did. You didn’t really know what he did outside of school, but you imagined that he probably wasn’t planning on showing up. So there really wasn’t any reason for you to wait for him. 

You accepted the fact that you would be spending this field trip alone and walked across the street. It was freezing outside, and you liked the idea of drinking a hot cup of coffee while you figured out what to do next.

Maybe it was pure luck that you ended up sitting in that coffee shop for a while. Otherwise you would have missed Kaiba’s arrival. Not that it would have been easy to miss a limousine pulling up to the park and parking behind the buses. 

You knew that the limo belonged to Kaiba even before he got out, but you didn’t move from your table in the coffee shop. It wasn’t because you were frozen in shock. Obviously you were surprised to see Kaiba, but you weren’t that surprised. No, you simply stayed where you were because it was warm in the coffee shop and cold outside. Your jacket was slung over the back of your chair, and your gloves were sitting on the table in front of you. You were still wearing your scarf, but it was unwrapped and loosely hanging over your shoulders. 

Putting all your layers back on to go greet Kaiba was simply too much effort. You were perfectly comfortable where you were. 

So you watched him through the window as he paced in front of the buses. Nobody was there except the drivers. Both drivers were having a smoke and sitting on a bench near the buses. You watched Kaiba as he approached them. He didn’t get too close, but it was clear that he was speaking to them. He didn’t seem to like whatever they told him. From the way he stormed back to his limo, you assumed that he was going to leave. 

He didn’t. He just ended up grabbing a briefcase out of the limo before slamming the door. Then he walked across the street, ignoring a car that honked at him and heading straight for the coffee shop you were sitting in. 

He opened the door and walked straight up to the register. Once he had a coffee, he turned and scanned the area. That was when he finally noticed you. You grinned at him, amused by the entire situation. He didn’t seem surprised to see you, but you were sure that he was. He joined you at your table, sitting down without a word. 

You decided to break the ice yourself. “I didn’t expect you to show up.” 

“Then why are you waiting for me?” 

“I wasn’t. I was only sitting in here because it’s warm.” You refused to let Kaiba’s attitude bother you this early in the trip. Kaiba didn’t seem to have anything else to say, so you asked, “What are you doing here anyway? I wouldn’t think that a school trip is your thing.” 

“My reasons are none of your business,” he snapped. 

You held up your hands in mock surrender. “Okay. Whatever.” You lifted your warm drink to your lips and took a sip. Only a small sip. The drink was almost gone, and you were reluctant to leave. 

Then Kaiba shoved your gloves out of the way and placed his laptop on the table. “Hey!” you cried, trying to grab your gloves before they slid off the table. “What’re you doing?!” 

“Working.” His tone let you know that the answer should have been obvious. 

You just rolled your eyes. Talking to this man was simply impossible. You put your gloves back on then stood up to put your jacket on too. Your drink was almost gone so you might as well get going. If you were lucky, you could make it to the nearby aquarium before you froze. 

Kaiba noticed your movements. “What are you doing?” 

“Leaving. My coffee is almost gone, and I don’t plan on sitting here all day.”

“I don’t recall agreeing to go anywhere.”

For such an intelligent man, Kaiba was a bit dense. “I didn’t invite you to come with me.” As if you really wanted to spend more time with him than needed. 

He raised an eyebrow, maybe he wasn’t used to having his own brand of rude shot back at him. “We’re in the same group.” 

You held up your hands and motioned around. “Do you see the rest of the group here? It doesn’t really matter as long as we get back to the buses on time.” You looked out the window at his limo. “But that doesn’t really matter for you, does it?” You picked up your drink and finished it off. Then you slung your bag over your shoulder and waved at Kaiba. “Later.” 

You threw away your cup and left the coffee shop. 

The moment you pushed open the door, a gust of cold air assaulted your face, and you were very tempted to turn back. It was freezing out here. Reluctantly, you trudged forward. You couldn’t go back now. Not after that epic, well, epic in your opinion, dismissal of Kaiba. You didn’t hate the guy, but giving him a taste of his own medicine had been fun. 

Then little specks of white began to fall into your hair and face. You held out your hands and bit back a curse. 

It was snowing! Karma was biting you. Of course it would get cold enough to snow right after you were rude to someone. You huffed and tried to pull your jacket tighter around yourself. You decided that the world was working against you and turned back. 

A few moments later, you were reentering the coffee shop and walking back to the table where Kaiba was sitting. You plopped down in the seat across from him and just pouted at the entire situation. 

He stared at you. It was possible that he was shocked, but his emotions weren’t really easy to read. “I thought you were leaving,” he drawled. 

“That was before it was snowing.” You were sure that a lot of other people would be laughing at you right now. Luckily Kaiba was too busy being a stiff jerk, but that didn’t mean he wouldn’t comment on your behavior. So you prepared yourself for whatever he was about to dish out.

He looked out the window. “It doesn’t take much to discourage you does it? It’s barely snowing.”

“It’s cold enough to snow. That’s bad enough for me.” If you had been wearing a warmer jacket, you would have braved the snow, but you never expected it to be so cold here. It was about ten degrees cooler than it was in Domino right now, and that ten degrees made a huge difference. 

Now Kaiba’s eyes were focused on you. It was unnerving. He was just staring at you as if he could read your mind. “What?” you defensively asked. 

“Why are you sitting at my table?” 

Your jaw dropped. “I was sitting here before you were! Besides, there aren’t any empty tables.” You quickly looked around to make sure that was still true. It was. The coffee shop was really busy, probably thanks to the cold weather. 

He went back to work without further comment. 

You just watched him for a moment. You were thankful for the book sitting in your bag. Kaiba clearly wasn’t going to talk to you. So you got up, ordered yourself another drink, and then settled down to read for a few hours. 

By the time you looked up from your book, it was dark outside. The coffee shop was no longer busy, but snow was still falling down on the nearly empty street.

The empty street that didn’t contain any buses. 

You just stared at the street, willing a bus to appear. There was no way they could have left you! The teachers were supposed to do a headcount! This kind of thing did not happen to people. 

You reached across the table and grabbed Kaiba’s arm. At least you weren’t alone in this. “Kaiba. The buses are gone.” 

He glanced out the window before glaring at you. “What’s your point?” 

“How are we going to get back? They just left!” You knew that you were digging your nails into Kaiba’s arm, but you couldn’t stop yourself. Panic was setting in. 

Kaiba pried your hand off his arm, holding it up and away from his laptop. “They left you. I have a limo.” Then he dropped your hand on the table and went back to work. 

You breathed a sigh of relief. Kaiba had a limo. You could just get a ride from him… right? You eyed him speculatively. It was true that he was a jerk, but he wouldn’t just leave you behind would he? No, he was practically obligated to help you get home.

Then again, he had just stood by when your stalker had assaulted you. Kaiba didn’t have much in the way of human decency. 

You couldn’t rely on Kaiba. He was a last resort. You pulled out your phone, intending to call a friend, and noticed that you had a text message. It was from Kana and read, “Told the teach that you’re w/ Kaiba and going back w/him. Have fun~ ;D”

Slamming your head against the table seemed ideal right now. You imagined what you were going to do to her as you hit the call button. The phone rang, and rang, and rang, and rang. Then her answering machine picked up. 

You waited for the beep. “I can’t believe you just told them to leave me behind! How am I going to get home?” You shot Kaiba a glance, hoping he would chime in with an offer. “I can’t take a taxi. I don’t have enough money, and it’s snowing, and it’s seriously really cold. I swear I’ll get back at you for this.” You hung up and placed your phone down on the table. Then you stared at it, hoping it would ring. 

Kaiba closed his laptop, distracting you. “What are you doing?” 

He just raised an eyebrow as if the answer should be obvious. 

You tried again. “Are you leaving?” 

“Yes.” That was it. He didn’t offer to give you a ride back. He didn’t ask if you would be okay. 

Well, that was unacceptable. He was your only way home. You didn’t want to jump onto the hood of his limo and cling on for your life, but you really did need to catch a ride with him. Preferably without begging. So you put your book and phone into your bag. By the time he was ready to leave, you were too. 

He didn’t say anything as you followed him out of the coffee shop, but he did finally ask you what you were doing after you crossed the street behind him. 

“Um… I was hoping you would take me back to Domino?”

He leaned against his limo. "So now you want to go somewhere with me?" He paused, smirking. "No."

You were honestly surprised that he was bringing up your earlier conversation. Sure, you felt like you were being rude to him, but you never actually expected it to bother him. It wasn’t like Kaiba really wanted to spend time with you. “Would you like me to apologize?” You might if it meant that you would be able to get home and out of this freezing snow. 

“There’s no point to an empty apology. Don’t insult me.” He was nearly snarling at you, and you almost took a step back. 

You settled for holding up your hands in surrender. “I didn’t think you would want to spend the entire day with me. I was only going to the aquarium, nowhere interesting, and it’s not like I ditched you in the end.” 

He stared at you for a moment. When you blinked, he turned away, making you wonder if he had been indulging in a one-sided staring contest. He pulled open the door to his limo, and you played with the idea of just pushing past him and jumping in. He slid into a seat and left the door hanging open.

He smirked. “Well? Are you getting in or am I leaving you in the snow?” 

He didn’t have to ask you twice. You dove into his car, thanking him profusely. 

Maybe he wasn’t completely heartless after all.


	13. It's Not What You Think

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: It’s Not What You Think
> 
> Kaiba's POV.

“Kaiba! Good morning.” Somehow, you’d caught up to Kaiba in the hallway, and now you were walking next to him. He tried to walk faster, but you kept up. “Did you have a nice weekend?” 

Now you were acting far too familiar with him. It made Kaiba regret giving you a ride back to Domino. He didn’t like when people asked him personal questions. He wasn't your friend, and you shouldn't treat him so casually. He should have left you behind. 

“ _I worked_ ,” he snapped. Unlike his fellow students, he didn’t have the luxury of doing nothing for two days in a row. 

“Well… didn’t you have time for anything fun?” 

He didn’t bother responding to your question. Small talk really wasn’t necessary. He had no obligation to tell you about his life, and he didn't think it was any of your business. 

“I’m sure you spent the whole weekend missing me, didn’t you? That’s why it wasn’t any fun!” You grinned and grabbed his arm. “Well, we’ve got five, lovely days together before the next weekend!” Then you released his arm, stood on your toes, and started waving at someone else. “Oh! Masao! Wait a sec!” You turned back to Kaiba with a quick grin. “See you later!” Then you took off, diving through the crowds, and he could still hear your teasing voice as you shouted, “Sorry I didn’t call you back. I hope you didn’t cry!” 

Kaiba narrowed his eyes as he watched you join a boy and throw your arm around the guy’s shoulders. He’d been under the impression that all your attention and teasing meant that you liked him. 

Apparently, that was simply how you treated all the men you knew. Kaiba didn’t like it. He didn’t like your familiarity with him, but it was even worse knowing that he wasn’t the only one you treated that way. Annoyed, Kaiba followed you down the hall. As he approached you, he began to hear little snippets of your conversation. 

“I’m so jealous!” You grabbed the lock for your locker and began to spin it. “I really want to play that game, but it just came out, so it’s way too expensive." You pulled open the locker and began to place some of your books inside. The unknown boy leaned against the lockers next to you and watched you. "Kaiba Corp. games are awesome though! I bet it's a lot of fun.” 

Kaiba smirked, pleased by your comment. Of course he knew that his company put out the best products, but he couldn’t say that he didn’t enjoy hearing you say it. The way that you treated him said that you thought he was just like everyone else. That comment proved that you recognized his superiority.

“It’s a cool game so far. It’s _almost_ as good as Bethesda’s recent game.” 

Kaiba’s eyes narrowed, and he studied the boy’s face, memorizing it. 

You laughed awkwardly. Kaiba hung back, waiting to see what you would say before he approached you. 

“I haven’t played that game yet, either,” you admitted. Your shoulders slouched down. “If I had an afterschool job, I’d have way more money for new games. My allowance doesn’t go very far.” 

“Well, you could come over sometime and play them both at my place?” The boy was nervous, stumbling over his words just enough for Kaiba to pick up on it. 

“Really?” You shut your locker and turned to face the boy. “I don’t want to inconvenience you or anything… but that’d be so cool!” 

“NO! I mean…” The boy fiddled with the lock of a random locker. “It’d be fun. My parents’ll be out of town this weekend. We could have a gaming marathon and get some pizza. Well. If you’re not busy!”

Kaiba took that moment to interrupt your conversation. He walked up right behind you before slamming his hand down on the lockers between you and the boy. With his other hand, he began to twist the combination for his own locker. 

“Kaiba!” You turned your head and tried to figure out where you should look, eventually settling on tilting your head back at a harsh angle so you could look up at him. “You could’ve asked me to move!” 

That was normally what Kaiba did when you were in the way, but not today. Today, he wanted to make a statement. The lock unlocked, and he reached around to grab the back of your head. Kaiba pulled your head down and into his chest so that you were out of the way—his locker was above yours, but not high enough to go over your head unless you ducked—before opening his locker door. 

Your voice was muffled by his shirt, and Kaiba couldn't understand a single thing you were trying to say, but you weren't pushing him away so he knew he had a few moments before he had to release you.

With your face still pressed into his chest, Kaiba looked over at the boy. Kaiba didn’t say anything; he just narrowed his eyes. The boy’s eyes were already wide, but the moment Kaiba made eye contact with him, he turned around, stuttered some sort of apology, and ran away. 

Kaiba released you, slamming his locker shut. He hadn’t needed anything out of it. 

You pulled away from him, smoothing your hair with your hands. “Really, Kaiba. Have you heard of personal space? I know you love me and all, but…” You looked around the hallway. “Where’d Masao go?” 

“Stop saying such ridiculous things.” Kaiba turned away from you, striding in the direction of his class. 

You trailed behind him. “You have the worst timing, Kaiba! Masao was about to let me try out a few new games.” You huffed, exhaling a large gust of air. 

Kaiba rolled his eyes. Didn’t you understand that that boy had been asking you out? “If you stop whining, I’ll **give** you a copy of Kaiba Corp’s newest game.” 

“Really? Thank you, Kaiba!” You grabbed his arm and hugged it. 

Kaiba wished you wouldn’t just touch him so casually, but at least that boy no longer had any way to lure you over to his house.


	14. Spreading Rumors/Gossip

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There are consequences to Kaiba's actions in the last chapter, and Kaiba is still playing it cool, and the reader continues to be difficult. Just a chapter in the story that is Transience!
> 
> Prompt: Spreading Rumors/Gossip  
> Enjoy~

Physics was not your favorite class. That had less to do with the subject matter and more to do with the time of day. It was your very first class of the day, meaning that it started early in the morning. Too early in the morning. 

Today was no exception. You were still tired, and as you trudged into the room, you wondered why you couldn’t just stay in your nice warm bed until noon. Upon reaching your lab table, you slid your bag under it and threw yourself onto the stool. Then you slouched over, leaning onto the table and settling your head onto your arms. They weren’t the best pillow in the world, but they were better than nothing.

You heard your lab partner come in; you recognized his voice when he stopped to talk to the teacher. Reluctantly, you picked up your head and moved over so that you weren’t hogging the entire table. 

Then your partner passed by you and sat down at another table. Confused, you tried to joke with him and ask if you smelled today. He wouldn’t make eye contact with you and ignored your teasing question. It was unexpected and strange. When the bell rang and class started, he stayed at that table. Your teacher didn't say a thing about it. 

He must have asked the teacher to switch him to another group. You slouched in your seat and wondered what he’d said to your teacher to get moved to a new group.

Maybe you’d insulted him on accident? Or maybe he didn’t want to work with you for some reason? You didn't know why he was ignoring you or why he didn’t want to work with you. Wondering if it had something to do with you on a personal level didn’t make you feel very good about yourself. Maybe he just thought that you were annoying.

Then you realized that your teacher wouldn’t look at you either. He usually shifted his gaze around the room while he was teaching, but it was very obvious that he wasn’t looking at your side of the room.

Something was going on.

You looked around the room, making eye contact with some of your classmates, noticing that they looked away quickly and that others were simply ignoring you outright. 

It became obvious that everyone was nervous and that it had something to do with you. The question of why bothered you all class long, no matter how hard you tried to focus on work. So you decided to corner your lab partner and ask him. He grabbed his stuff the moment the bell rang and was the first one out of the room. You followed him, and he looked back and then tried to walk away from you, and when you got close, he started to run. 

Before you could catch up, he ducked into the boy's bathroom. _Chicken._

You did consider going in there after him. It didn’t matter to you that it was the boy’s restroom, but it did matter that you would probably get in trouble for doing so. Lurking outside the room was out of the question, too; your next class would begin soon, and you couldn’t be late.

With a promise that you would figure out what had your partner treating you like a leper, you gave up the chase and walked to your next class. 

Kana ambushed you the moment you entered the room. Literally. She launched herself out of her seat and grabbed you. She was practically attached to you as she squealed, “You and Seto Kaiba are an item!” 

“No?” This day was starting to feel surreal. You might be dreaming. If you suddenly found yourself either naked or singing and dancing, then you’d know that this was all a dream. “Well… I guess we could be an item—if you were running some sort of buy one, get one free sale. Buy one awesome chick, get a jerk CEO free!” 

“So you **are** dating!” She turned to face some chick in the back of the room. “I told you so!” 

You waved your hands and frantically shook your head. You spoke loud enough for everyone to hear as you said, “Wait! No! Really not dating. Please don’t tell people that.” 

“But everyone says he grabbed you and kissed you in the middle of the hallway!”

You just stared at Kana. That was… There was no way Kaiba would do that… You’re pretty sure that you would know if Kaiba had grabbed and kissed you.

“I saw him punch Masao just for talking to her! I was there! He said, ‘Don’t go near my woman,’ and just hit him!”

“What—” You tried to protest, but the words wouldn’t come. How did you protest something so ridiculous?

“I hear he grabbed her and carried her away to his mansion!” 

Where did that—? “I’m… still here…” you reminded them. 

Nobody listened to you. 

“Well I saw the ring that Kaiba gave her!” 

“What a lie! Kaiba did no such thing.”

“Did so!” 

You were beginning to wonder if you should just go home for the day. Somehow you had become a target of the rumor mill, and you couldn’t see any way for this to end without a headache. 

Then everyone went silent. All eyes were on you. You wondered if someone had asked a question, but then you realized that their eyes weren’t focused on you. They were all looking past you, through you, above you. You pivoted and turned. 

Kaiba was standing in the doorway, glaring at you and ignoring the way everyone was peering at him. “Move,” he ordered. 

You shuffled out of his way and studied him as he passed you. He must have heard the rumors flying around. As much as you teased him about liking you, you knew that he was impartial toward you. Kaiba was impartial toward everyone. Well, toward everyone he didn’t hate. 

He wouldn’t like these rumors. That was a given. So maybe you wouldn’t have to worry about it. Kaiba might diffuse the situation for you. You followed him to his desk, earning yourself a raised eyebrow from him once he sat down. 

You placed a hand on his desk and leaned forward. It was invasive, but you didn’t want to make it easy for your class to eavesdrop on you. 

“Have you heard the rumors?” 

He scoffed. “I don’t waste my time listening to trivial gossip.” Then he pulled a book out of his briefcase and opened it, letting you know that the conversation was over. 

Very aware of all the eyes focused on you, you sat down in the desk in front of his and leaned on his desk. His eyes narrowed as he looked at you over the top of his book. “The rumors are about us,” you said before he could snap at you. “People think we’re dating.” 

He partially closed the book, keeping his place with his fingers, as he considered what you’d said. His face went completely blank and expressionless, but you knew that meant he was simply hiding his thoughts. It was one of the very few things about him that you had been able to pick up on. 

He finally shrugged. “Let them think what they want.” Then he reopened his book and focused back on it. 

You were floored by his response. Shouldn’t he care that people thought he was dating you? At the very least, wouldn’t he be insulted by the thought or something like that? He was arrogant, and you assumed that he wouldn’t want his name linked with anyone that wasn’t good enough. 

You wanted to say something else to him, but class was about to start, and the owner of the desk that you were currently occupying was glaring at you. Well, if Kaiba wanted to ignore the rumors, then he could. 

You couldn’t stop him, but you could fan the flames. “Okay, _darling_. I’ll see you later then.” Kaiba’s eyes snapped straight to you the moment he heard your teasing tone, and you winked at him. Before he could say anything in response, you pushed yourself out of the desk and flounced to the front of the room where you normally sat.

It would serve him right if the rumors got worse. 

You didn’t think about how the rumors might affect you until halfway through your class when a note landed on your desk. You unfolded it and read the small message that it contained.

_Meet me in the field after school._   
_-Chiharu Kato_   
_Seto Kaiba Fanclub President_

You couldn’t hold back your groan as you ran a hand through your hair. This was just great. The fanatics were already after you.


	15. Cutting Class

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here are the original author notes for this:
> 
> I don't really feel very comfortable with this update. I'm not a fan of it, but I guess I need to get it posted so I can move on to the next update.  
>   
> Kaiba, why are you so difficult sometimes? D:  
>   
>  **Prompt: Cutting Class**  
>  Enjoy~

You were no idiot. Everyone knew that Kaiba’s fanclub was crazy. You might be new to Domino High, but you had already heard more than enough about Kaiba’s fans. So even though their leader wanted to talk to you, you had zero interest in talking to her. You weren’t even going to bother meeting her after school. 

You were, however, perfectly willing to tease Kaiba about it. 

The moment class was over, you caught up with Kaiba in the hallway and dangled the letter in front of him. “Your fans are sending me love letters now, too.” 

Kaiba snatched the note from you, surprising you with his sudden movement and almost causing you to run into someone as you reflexively flinched away. He glanced over the note before scoffing and tossing it to the side. “You have low expectations for a love letter.”

“People show their love in all sorts of ways,” you countered, watching the paper flutter for a moment as you debated trying to pick it up so you could make sure it was at least thrown away properly. Then you decided that it wasn’t worth getting trampled on by all the students trying to get to class. Your attention focused back on Kaiba. “But I’m sure any love letter you’d write for me would be underwhelming as well.”

He didn’t respond to your challenge. He simply scoffed, as if to say that he’d never consider writing you a love letter, which was probably true. Kaiba didn’t strike you as the type to write odes to someone’s beauty... or whatever love letters were supposed to be. 

You were so distracted by your internal thoughts that you didn’t even realize that Kaiba wasn’t walking in the right direction for your next class until he pushed open the doors leading out of the school. 

“Where are you going?”

He paused in the doorway and looked back at you. His eyebrow was raised, and he clearly didn’t think that where he was going was any of your business. 

“We have class,” you reminded him. 

“I have work.” He turned away from you. “Unlike you, I can’t waste my time sitting in a useless lecture.” 

You followed him as he left the school. You were more interested in the fact that he could just leave school than in what subject your computer class would cover today. “Do you do this often? I’ve never even noticed!”

He stopped in the middle of the parking lot. “What do you think you’re doing?” 

“Following you.” Obviously. 

“Stop it.” 

You pouted. “But I’m curious. You just leave school like this? Nobody stops you?” You looked around, wondering if you were missing something. The parking lot was quiet, and even though it was full of cars, it still felt empty compared to the crowded hallway. Despite his large number of fans, nobody seemed to notice Kaiba as he left the school. Or if they did notice, they didn’t care. 

Maybe they were just used to it.

Kaiba was still staring at you, and you could tell that he wasn’t sure how to react to you. He was either trying to determine the rudest possible thing that he could say, or he really was caught off guard by your odd behavior.

You took advantage of his silence and asked another question that popped into your head. “Do you ever pretend you’re going to go to work and then just… _ditch_?” 

“Don’t be ridiculous,” he snapped, and you could tell that he was offended by your question. He stalked off toward his car without another word, and you continued to follow him. 

“I don’t know how that’s a ridiculous question,” you called out, making it impossible for him to pretend he couldn’t hear you. “You’re a teenager. Just like me—”

“I’m nothing like you,” he spat, turning on you. His expression was furious now. “I have obligations. I have a company to run and a little brother to take care of. I don’t have time to waste on childish things.” 

You knew that your eyes were wide and imagined that you must look frightened to him. You weren’t, but you were surprised by his outburst. Kaiba had a short temper, and his temper was something that you’d seen on more than one occasion, but this time, you weren’t positive that you were the one his anger was really directed at.

He could just be frustrated with the fact that you were following him. 

Still, he deserved the chance to just take a day off and go do something fun and… well, childish. Everyone deserved to have a day off. Even a man as rude and uptight as him. Especially someone like him. 

He was walking away now, and you took a deep breath as you willed your legs to follow him. You’d asked him too many questions to stop now. “Hey, Kaiba,” you began, uncertain about what you were about to say. “We should go get coffee together again sometime.” 

He was standing next to his car with the door open, and he refused to look back at you. “I don’t have time for dating.” He didn’t sound angry, and he hadn’t insulted you. That was encouraging. 

“Don’t think of it as a date. I’m sure you’re not interested in me like that anyway. I just think… well, we could always skip a class or something to do it. It’s just…” You stopped speaking. This was getting complicated, and you weren’t sure how to phrase your invite. Kaiba still wasn’t facing you either, so you weren’t even sure that he was listening to you. “Never mind. I’ll see you tomorrow, Kaiba.” You reached into your bag to pull out your car keys as you turned away from Kaiba. It was far too late to go to your next class, and now that you were standing outside of the school anyway, you figured that you might as well go home. 

Kaiba said your name, startling you, and you snapped around to give him your full attention. He didn’t say anything else, and you found yourself staring at him for a long moment. 

At first, you bit your lip and tried not to say anything snarky, but then you couldn’t hold back anymore. “If you just wanted to stare at me, _darling_ , you could just ask for a picture.” 

Kaiba growled and rolled his eyes. He muttered something under his breath that you couldn’t quite catch. Then he got into his car and slammed the door shut. Knowing the way that he peeled rubber, you moved out of the way of his car as his engine roared into life. Surprisingly, he was careful as he pulled out of the parking lot, and you cheerfully waved goodbye at him. 

Then you got into your own car and left the school as well. At least now you wouldn’t have to stay at school as the entire Kaiba Fanclub glared daggers into your back.


	16. Breakfast in Class

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Breakfast in Class

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not the biggest fan of this update. Oh, well. It's kind of cute? Maybe?
> 
> Enjoy~

Sometimes a stupid idea lodged itself in your head, and no matter how hard you tried to shake it free, it would remain there, tempting you until you gave in. You would waste time resisting it, knowing that it was dumb, but eventually, you gave into the temptation. Your common sense always lost out in the end. 

Bringing two cups of coffee and some doughnuts to your first class was one of those stupid ideas. Kaiba did not need or want you to bring him breakfast. Seto Kaiba was an ass, and you were being nice with your choice of words. You could easily see him scoffing at your offer and rejecting your breakfast offer by insulting you. He wasn’t a gracious person, not by a long shot, and even if he did appreciate it, everyone was under the impression that the two of you were dating. You did not want to fan those flames. 

You couldn’t think of a single positive reason to bring Kaiba coffee. If Kaiba weren’t such a fascinating person, you never would have considered this idea. 

Knowing that Kaiba was an ass and that everyone would read into your actions too much, you were feeling a bit of anxiety as you carried two Styrofoam cups into your first period. Kaiba wasn’t in his seat yet. You didn’t expect him to be there—he always showed up exactly on time—but you’d be lying if you said that you weren’t hoping he might be early for once. 

It wouldn’t be as stressful if people weren’t around when he insulted you.

Then again, that might just cause people to think that the two of you were no longer dating (not that you were ever dating in the first place). It might diffuse the rumors.

Or make them even worse. 

Now you were hoping that Kaiba wouldn’t show up for class today. Maybe then you could just give the coffee and doughnuts to a friend or your teacher or something. No one ever needed to know that you bought it for Kaiba. 

Your hopes went unfulfilled. Kaiba swept into the room a minute before class started, and you knew that if you didn’t give him the coffee right away, you never would. So you stood, clutching the full coffee cup so tightly that you were surprised it didn’t cave under your fingers. 

“Hey, Kaiba.” He glanced at you before he sat down and pulled out a book. “I figured, well, since you won’t go out and get coffee with me, maybe we could have coffee together in class.” You put the cup down on his desk. “If you don’t like it black, I also picked up a few sugar packets and some creamer.” You dug into your bag and pulled out a fistful of sugar and cream packages. Then you dropped them on his desk, noting the way he was staring at you. 

He seemed surprised. The unshakeable Seto Kaiba genuinely seemed to be surprised by your actions. Emboldened, you also pulled out a wrapped doughnut and offered it to him. “I wasn’t sure what you’d like, but if you don’t like it, I’ll eat it.” 

He didn’t seem to know what to say. “I don’t eat doughnuts,” he finally said. 

“Okay.” You took the doughnut back. “Well, enjoy the coffee!” You retreated back to your desk before his could say anything else. 

Even though Kaiba sat behind you, you stayed partially turned around in your seat for a moment, waiting for him to take a sip. He was still just staring at you, so you picked up your own cup and mockingly toasted to him before taking a sip. It was good. You’d gone out of your way this morning to stop at the place that made your favorite coffee, and if he wouldn’t drink his, you might. 

Seto Kaiba wasn’t the only coffee addict in this room. 

Then your teacher walked in, and you were forced to turn around and face the front of the room. Whenever your teacher looked away from you, you wanted to turn around and look at Kaiba, but you refrained. It didn’t matter if he drank it or not. It wasn’t expensive coffee, and all that mattered was that you had made the attempt. Instead, you sipped at your own drink. 

Still, when class ended and Kaiba threw away the cup, you couldn’t stop yourself from wandering over to the trash can. Under the pretense of carefully throwing away your own cup, you inspected his. 

You couldn’t stop a pleased grin from spreading across your face when you realized that his cup was empty.


	17. Love Letters

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We're catching up on this story. The next update is actually the first thing I wrote after coming out of hiatus this year. :) I'm super excited to get to the new stuff!
> 
> Wild plot has appeared!  
>   
> Yeah, this story really should update more often than it does. Sorry. D: I wish I were less busy.  
>   
> As a side note, I totally feel like the reader in Paint Me Envy at work sometimes. The giant corporate coffee machines at work are kind of scary to use. (Also, I made awful coffee on my first try. xD)  
>   
>  **Prompt: Love Letters**  
>  Enjoy~

Having Kaiba’s locker right above yours could be nice… sometimes. People didn’t stand around and block off the area around your locker. Nobody wanted to be in the way if Kaiba came by. Sometimes, his fangirls even got confused and his presents ended up in your locker instead. Obviously, you weren’t about to eat anything unwrapped, but packaged candy had to be safe. Probably. Hopefully.

It wasn’t nice having a locker right below Kaiba’s when he manhandled you on the way to his locker. He always seemed to want something out of his locker while you were at yours. Sometimes he stood right behind you, almost pressing his body against yours as he reached over your head and into his locker. It made you uncomfortable. Your face always warmed up and your body completely froze every single time he did it.

But when you received another love letter from your stalker, your relief at seeing Kaiba take it from your hands was overwhelming. Before Kaiba had walked over, you couldn’t do anything but stare at the letter in your hands. You couldn’t even read it. The moment you recognized the handwriting, your brain stopped working. You weren’t even sure if you were breathing.

“What is this?” Kaiba demanded, staring at the letter.

“I thought it was over.” You hadn’t received a letter since you sprayed your stalker’s face with pepper spray. “I thought he gave up.”

Kaiba stared at you for a moment. Then he looked back down at the letter. His eyes moved over the page, reading it. “Is this from that boy who grabbed you?”

You nodded, ignoring the urge to grab Kaiba in a hug. You felt vulnerable right now, as if the creep might pop up at any moment and grab you again. You wanted the feel of strong arms wrapped around you.

But you still knew that trying to hug Kaiba would be a bad idea.

“Didn’t you report him?”

“Report… what?”

“This is harassment.” Kaiba held out the letter. You didn’t take it back. “He assaulted you, too.”

You shrugged. Kaiba was making everything sound easy. “I can’t prove he wrote that… or any of them, and nobody saw him try to drag me away except—” The bell rang, signaling that lunch was over and interrupting you. It was perfect timing. You didn’t want to bring up the fact that Kaiba had witnessed that scene. You still didn’t know what to think about the fact that he had just stood there. “Time for class.”

You shut your locker and tried to sidestep around Kaiba. He refused to let you leave. “What’s the boy’s name?” he asked. 

“I don’t… I don’t know.” You looked down at your feet. 

“You don’t _know_?” 

You were afraid to meet Kaiba’s eyes. You felt embarrassed of that fact. Not only couldn’t you prove that your stalker was sending you borderline threatening letters, but you didn’t even know him. Domino High was a large school, and you didn’t recognize him. That one time he tried to grab you had been the only time you’d ever seen his face. 

Kaiba seemed to be waiting for something because the two of you stood there for a while. The second bell rang, letting the two of you know that you were late to class, and he still said nothing. You wanted to leave and run to class, but you couldn’t look up. You didn’t want to see the judgment in his eyes. The fact that you didn’t know your stalker wasn’t your fault. It wasn’t. It couldn’t be.

You never wanted any of his attentions, no matter what the letters said. 

Then Kaiba finally said, “Do you have everything you need for class?” 

You nodded, still not looking at him. Then he wrapped his hand around your wrist. The moment he touched you, you looked up at him. He turned away from you and strode down the hallway, saying nothing as he dragged you with him. 

He led you straight to your classroom. When he opened the door, your teacher’s mouth hung open as she stared at him. He turned his back to her and leaned down. “Wait for me at your locker after school.” You could barely hear him, and based on the looks that your classmates were sending you, they had quite a few ideas about what he could be saying. Then he left, and you tried to turn invisible as you slipped into your seat.

Everyone wanted to know what had just happened, but you didn’t have an answer for them. You weren’t quite sure what was going on with Kaiba either. It almost seemed like he was protecting you. 

You shook your head at your own thoughts. No, he couldn't be. He had to have some other reason to ask you to wait for him after school.


	18. Meeting Place

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the first thing I wrote this year as I came out of hiatus. I tried to post out to the site I used to post on, and that site wouldn't let me update. It's buggy. ): So I'm very glad to be posting it here.
> 
> Also, I am a huge idiot. After over a year of not having time for writing or Kaiba or anything much really, I decided to pick up from a chapter that's in Kaiba's POV.  
>   
> I'm too rusty. I'm so sorry if this is terrible. It was really hard getting back into Kaiba's head, and I'm not convinced I'm there yet. Still, at least this story is a little less involved than some of my others. I'm hoping to work my way back into things.  
>   
> Please help with feedback. I don't know what I'm doing anymore.

Kaiba kept the note from your stalker.

When you had refused to take it back, his instinct had been to throw it away, but he knew better. It was evidence. You would need it to build a case. At the very least, you needed a restraining order. 

After almost standing by when your stalker tried to kidnap you, Kaiba felt obligated to help you. It wouldn’t be much effort on his part, he knew how to deal with stalkers, and after he helped you, he could consider the two of you even. It didn't matter that you didn't know who was leaving you letters. He never knew any of his “admirers” personally either so this wasn't anything new to him.

What he couldn’t understand was why you had stalker. People attached themselves to him because he was famous and rich. You were neither, and he still stood by his assertion that you were plain looking. The only conclusion he could reach was that you had been a little too friendly with the wrong person. 

So he watched you in the few classes that he had with you. He watched the people around you. He looked for other people watching you, specifically other men. His one view of your stalker had been from afar, and he hadn’t paid much attention, but Kaiba felt confident in his ability to recall details. He would recognize the man if he saw him again.

When he wasn't in a class with you, he switched between work and planning what to do about your stalker. He wasted too much time thinking about your situation and not enough time working.

His programming class with you was near the end of the day, and by that point, Kaiba was starting to feel like your stalker was challenging him personally. As far as Kaiba was concerned, it was only a matter of time until he figured out who your stalker was. Nobody outwitted Seto Kaiba. 

He reached the class before you did and sat down in his usual seat. When you entered the room, he was pleased to note that your eyes sought him out. You grinned at him, and he acknowledged you with a slight nod. 

Then you sat down in your usual seat across the room from him. 

Of course, you always sat in that seat. Even after you started to casually greet him in the hallways, you still hadn’t decided to sit with him in any of your shared classes. Kaiba wasn’t sure why he expected you to sit with him today. After the way you seemed to shut down this morning, he assumed you might want the protection of sitting with him.

Kaiba frowned at his own thoughts. No, of course you would sit in the same place you normally sat. There was no reason to think otherwise. 

Kaiba narrowed his eyes as the boy sitting next to you caught his attention. He looked familiar. Kaiba studied his face. The boy in question had a stupid smile and seemed to be fascinated by whatever you were saying. That boy was either pathetic or stupid. Kaiba found himself forced to listen to you on a regular basis. You weren’t that interesting. 

Then Kaiba recognized the boy. He was the one who had been standing at your locker a few days ago, trying to convince you to come over to his house. 

As if he could feel the stare digging a hole into him, the boy turned and made eye contact with Kaiba. Kaiba narrowed his eyes and stared the boy down. _Don’t get any ideas._

The boy looked like he might wet himself as he quickly looked back to you. 

Kaiba was pleased to note that you had started working on your computer. You’d missed the entire exchange. 

He turned to his own computer and tried to put any thoughts of you and your stalker out of his head. He already had a plan, and after school he would put it in place.

After classes were over, you waited for him at his locker, just like he’d asked. You smiled when you saw him but didn’t make eye contact. 

“Hey, Kaiba. Um, thanks for this morning. I know I was a little, uh, out of it.” You started digging through your bag like you were looking for something.

Kaiba wasn’t sure what you were thanking him for. All he’d done was make sure you got to your first class. “It was nothing.” 

You finally looked at him. “Still. Thanks.” You bit your lip, and neither of you said anything for a moment. “Anyway, I’ve got to get home. Kana is coming over, and we’re going to hang out and think about doing homework.” You grinned. “We probably won’t get much done.”

Kaiba nodded. That was smart, having a friend come over. “Where did you park today?” 

“Oh, just in the student lot.” You reached into your bag and pulled out a small container. “Don’t worry about me. I’ve still got my pepper spray.” 

“My car is back there, too.” It wasn’t. His driver was waiting out front for him, but you didn’t need to know that. He turned and started walking. After a few steps, he looked back at you. “Didn’t you just say you needed to go home?” 

“Right!” You fell in step with him. “I suppose it’s only appropriate for my _loving_ boyfriend to walk me out anyway.” 

He resisted the urge to roll his eyes. You were getting far too carried away with those rumors. How you managed to amuse yourself with idle gossip was beyond his comprehension. 

At your car, you paused and grinned at him. “Should I give you a goodbye kiss?”

“Don’t be ridiculous.” You were much better company when you weren’t spouting nonsense.

Your grin didn’t waver. “See you tomorrow, Kaiba. Have a nice afternoon!”

He simply nodded. He waited for your car to join the crowd near the exit before turning and striding back to the front of the school. On his way to his limo, he placed a call to his private investigator of choice. He wanted this issue resolved as quickly as possible. You might feel confident while armed with pepper spray, but he wasn't sure it would be enough next time.


	19. Rock-Paper-Scissors

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Prompt** : Rock-Paper-Scissors
> 
> Kaiba isn't in this one. ): I hope it's still enjoyable. 
> 
> Sorry about the lag between updates. I ran out of pre-written stuff. This update is brand new, and moving forward, I'll be posting as I get time to work on this story.
> 
> Enjoy~

Kana would be the death of you. She loved the idea of you dating Kaiba and refused to believe you when you told her that the rumors were just a big misunderstanding. So instead of doing homework with her, you found yourself defending your lack of relationship with Kaiba. 

“If he’s letting everyone think that the two of you are dating, I’m sure that means he wishes the two of you were dating!” She kept insisting that Kaiba wouldn’t let people believe he was dating some nobody. As far as Kana was concerned, Kaiba had too much pride. 

She was wrong. “Kaiba just can’t be bothered to correct people.” You knew for a fact that Kaiba didn’t care about what other people thought. 

“Fine. Say Kaiba just doesn’t care.” She grinned, and you knew that you wouldn’t like whatever she was about to say. “How do you feel about Kaiba?” 

“He’s… nice.” You shrugged. 

“You’re such a liar!” Kana accused. “Kaiba’s the biggest jerk in school!” 

You had to grin at that. She was right. Kaiba might be… decent toward you, but you couldn’t deny that he was still rude to you sometimes. Still, you felt like it was friendly… kind of. His bark no longer had any bite when it was directed at you. “Okay, well I like him **as a friend**.” You stared Kana down, wanting her to understand. “I don’t have any interest in dating him or whatever. I just like talking to him sometimes. He’s...” You shrugged. There weren’t words for why you were drawn to Kaiba, and you didn’t want to share the details about the creep who kept sending you letters. If you refused to talk about that creep, maybe he would go away. 

“I don’t believe you.” Kana smirked. “I’ve seen the way he grabs you in front of your locker. You don’t even push him away.” She leaned forward. “You’re into it.” 

“No!” You shook your head, feeling your face heat up just thinking about the way Kaiba pulled you into his chest so he could open his locker without hitting you. “You know me. I hug people and grab them all the time. Why would I mind Kaiba treating me the same way?” 

“Unless you’ve shoved Kaiba’s face in your chest, I don’t think it’s the same thing.” She raised an eyebrow. “But I bet he would like burying his face in your tits.” 

Your jaw dropped as you stared at Kana. You could not believe she had just said that to you! 

Kana was unashamed. “Don’t give me that face! Kaiba is such a hottie that every girl in our school has thought about banging him.” She pulled her phone out and started typing into it. 

This conversation was starting to make you uncomfortable. You didn’t want to think about Kaiba as more than a friend. He was too unobtainable. It was surprising enough that he talked with you sometimes. 

Then Kana shoved her phone in your face. “Look at that!” There was a picture of Kaiba in a suit filling the screen. You had no idea where she got the picture, but damn…

You wanted to ask her to send you that picture, but after looking at her cheshire grin, you knew exactly what type of reaction that question would get. “Okay. He’s really hot,” you conceded, hoping that you would still be able to look him in the eye after this. 

“And..?”

“And nothing!” You glared at her. 

She put her phone away, taking that glorious picture away from you. “I think you’re lying to me. I don’t even like Kaiba as a person, but I wouldn’t kick him out of my bed.” 

“Well that’s you.” You were irritated. She needed to drop the subject. “I look for a little bit more than a hot body.” 

“Cut the crap.” Kana seemed irritated, too. “I may not have known you for very long, but I have eyes, and I can tell you like Kaiba. Are you afraid he doesn’t like you back?” 

This conversation had gone too far. “Look, can we just do our homework?” 

Kana narrowed her eyes. “Fine, but only if you agree to ask Seto Kaiba out on a date.” 

You stared at her for a moment, letting her words sink in. Then you laughed. You couldn’t help it. The idea of asking Kaiba out on a date was ridiculous. Where would you even take him if he said yes? Kaiba Land? He owned that place. He practically owned all of Domino. “Are you serious?” you asked once your amusement wore off. 

“Yes.” 

She was insane. You needed to find new friends. “No.”

She held up both hands, making a fist with one hand and placing it in the palm of her other hand. “Let’s play rock-paper-scissors. If I win, you ask Kaiba out. If you win, I’ll stop bugging you about him.” 

You rolled your eyes. “Or you could just stop bugging me.” 

She kept holding her hands up, staring you down. You stared right back. You couldn’t recall why you were friends with her. 

You caved first. “Fine.” You held up your hands. 

“Rock. Paper. Scissors,” both of you chanted together. 

You put out a pair of scissors. She went for paper. “I win,” you said, fake cutting her hand. “Now can we move on?” 

“Fine.” Kana was pouting. “I’ll leave **you** alone.” 

Something about the way she put emphasis on “you” bothered you. There was no way she would think about bugging Kaiba, was there? 

You reassured yourself that if you weren’t brave enough to ask Kaiba about his feelings for you, then Kana wouldn’t be daring enough to talk to him.


	20. P.E.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: P.E.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kaiba sticks his foot in his mouth because he can't help but be a dick sometimes...
> 
> I actually don't like this update. I'm not happy with it at all but I dunno what to do with it. I'm going to try to attempt the next update from Kaiba's POV if I can, but I'm not sure if I'll be able to pull it off. ):
> 
> Enjoy?

On running days, Kaiba always left every single person in your class in the dust. Nobody even came close to beating him. People tried and failed. After finishing his laps way before anyone else, he often sat on the bleachers and worked on his computer, ignoring the rest of the class.

The fact that he even put effort into P.E. amused you. Didn’t he have better things to do than show off his long legs? 

Not that you were complaining. 

After you were done with your own laps, you joined him on the benches, trying to look at what he was doing. He slammed his laptop shut. 

You raised an eyebrow at him. “Afraid I’m going to steal company secrets?” 

He ignored your question. “What are you doing here?” 

He stared you down, and you tried to stare back at him with a smile. “Keeping you company?” you offered. He didn’t respond. Instead he continued to stare. You lost the contest and shrugged. “None of my friends are done yet.” This was your first time trying to sit with him, and his reaction was making you nervous. “Is it okay if I sit with you?” 

“You’re already sitting next to me.” 

Ouch. That harsh tone didn’t sound like a yes. “Whatever, Kaiba.” You stood and tried to leave, but Kaiba grabbed your wrist. You turned to stare at him. 

“You’re not annoying.” He wouldn’t make eye contact. “It’s fine if you sit there.” 

He had an offensive way of phrasing things, but you’d heard him say worse to others. Despite this, you still didn’t feel welcome. “It’s fine, Kaiba. Kana just finished. I can go sit with her.” Kana was already walking your way so you pointedly looked down at Kaiba’s hand, expecting him to release you. 

He didn’t. He continued to frown down at his laptop. 

“Kaiba?” You wiggled your arm to draw his attention to the fact that he was still holding your wrist. 

He released his grip on your wrist, but it was too late. Kana was already standing in front of the two of you with a shit-eating grin on her face. She greeted you and turned her attention to Kaiba. “Kaiba, can I ask you a question?” 

Kaiba looked Kana over. “No.” 

Kana rolled her eyes and shot you a look that clearly said, ‘See? He’s a jerk.’ Then she grinned at Kaiba. Kana didn’t seem scared of him, and that thought made you nervous. “Okay. I guess it doesn’t matter to you if I drag your girlfriend on a double date then?” 

“I’m not his girlfriend,” you protested. 

Kaiba ignored Kana’s question. He turned to you. “You’re going on a date with someone?” 

“No,” you said as Kana shouted, “I told you so!” 

You glared at her, silently telling her to back off and butt out. 

Kana ignored you. “Kaiba, if you want to keep her away from other guys, you need to act like a real boyfriend.” Clearly, Kana had a death wish. 

Kaiba didn’t respond to Kana. He packed his laptop into his briefcase and stood. “We’ll talk later,” he informed you before walking away. 

You watched him head for the boys’ locker room, and once he was out of earshot you turned to glare at Kana again. “What is wrong with you?!” 

She smirked. “I just helped you. You’re welcome.”

“You just ruined any _friendly_ relationship I might have had with Kaiba!” 

She shook her head. “Yell at me after you talk to him.., if you still want to yell at me of course.” 

“You’re the worst friend.” You jumped off the bleachers and walked back to join the rest of your class. 

She followed behind you. “Maybe he’ll make it official. Then we can go on double dates!” 

You groaned. “It’s more likely that he’s annoyed that you called him a bad boyfriend when he isn’t even my boyfriend.” 

“We’ll see.” Her smug tone indicated that she was already planning the double dates. As if Kaiba would ever agree to anything like that. 

Your class was just standing around. Nothing else would happen for today and the period was almost over. Instead of re-joining your class, you ran after Kaiba, leaving Kana behind, hoping she wouldn’t follow. You felt the need to explain yourself to Kaiba. You didn’t want him to think that you were telling your friends that you were dating him. Yes you may have fanned the flames of the rumors, but that was only once and as a joke. 

He reached the boys’ locker room before you caught up, and you were faced with a conundrum. Should you walk in after him or knock? Or wait for him to come out? 

Well, nobody else would be in there… You pushed the door open. 

You had not thought about the fact that Kaiba would be changing in the locker room. As you stared at his shirtless chest, you mused that you could be quite stupid sometimes. Then you made eye-contact with Kaiba and realized that you shouldn’t be staring at his naked chest.

Covering your eyes, you shouted apologies to Kaiba. “I didn’t mean to walk in on you!” You turned away from him to give him some privacy. 

The locker room went silent once you finished your apologies, and you were concerned about the fact that Kaiba wasn’t saying anything. You expected him to be angry. Should you peek to see what he was doing? Maybe you should leave? The silence put you on edge. Why wasn’t he saying anything?

Hands landed on your waist, and you yelped, jumping away and letting your hands fall from your face. Kaiba was right in front of you and still shirtless. You stared up at his face, trying not to stare at his chest like some sort of pervert. 

He leaned down, and one of his hands cupped your chin. As he leaned forward, you observed how dark his eyes were. Such a deep blue. 

Then his lips brushed yours, and you shut your eyes, tilting your head back to meet his lips with your own. The kiss was short, but when Kaiba pulled away, he kept his face close to yours. 

“Am I acting like enough of a real boyfriend now?” he asked. 

Your mouth parted as his words sank in. _Had he just kissed you to make some sort of point? Was that a joke to him?_

Your eyes stung as you stepped away from him. “You’re such an asshole, Kaiba.” You left, running out of the locker room before he could say anything else. 

It was your fault for thinking you could be friends with such a jerk.


	21. Fight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Fight

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this is so short. ): But it's Kaiba's POV, picking up from the last chapter. 
> 
> I used to feel more comfortable writing from Kaiba's headspace. I think I also used to be better, but I'm pretty happy with how this turned out. Hopefully you guys will agree!

Kaiba stared at the door after you left. He couldn’t understand why you were so angry. Did you want him to act like a real boyfriend or not? First, you decided to go along with the rumors, letting everyone think that he was involved with you. Then you gave your friends the impression that he was somehow a bad boyfriend so they would complain to him

Yet you had the nerve to get angry when he kissed you? 

Kaiba finished dressing and gathered up his things. He had no need to stay at school for the remainder of his classes, and he didn’t want to see you again today. He was used to girls like you who only wanted to date him because he would make a nice trophy. He didn’t know why he was surprised that you were just like everyone else. 

Not that it mattered. He wasn’t interested in you. The rumors about his relationship with you had always been exaggerated. 

On his way out of the locker room, Kaiba ran into Yugi. Yugi smiled and greeted him. Kaiba nodded, acknowledging his presence.

“Great job today, Kaiba!” Yugi said. “You came in first again!” 

Kaiba smirked. “Of course.” It wasn’t even a challenge. He didn’t know why he bothered showing up to P.E. He was better than everyone in his class, even Yugi. 

Especially Yugi. 

Nobody stopped Kaiba as he strode through the school. He left through the front door and found his driver waiting for him. He got into the backseat and checked the time. He had a few hours before Mokuba got out of school. 

“Kaiba Corp,” he instructed the driver. 

“Right away, sir.” 

Kaiba started working through his emails during the drive to Kaiba Corp. By the time he made it to the office, his worklist seemed longer than when he started looking at the emails from the day. He had proposals to review, and one of the main projects had experienced an unexpected setback that would delay the game’s release. 

If it weren’t for Mokuba, Kaiba would have dropped out of high school by now. He didn’t need it. He wasn’t learning anything useful. At the same time, it was just a temporary inconvenience, and he didn’t want Mokuba to think it would be acceptable to drop out of school. 

No, Mokuba would go through high school and college if Kaiba had anything to say about it. 

Still, perhaps he should consider a correspondence school? Something that would be less time consuming than attending classes… 

Kaiba prioritized his pile of work and started working on the most important matters for the day, knowing the best way to get things done was to just do them. 

Between everyday business and the last-minute setbacks, Kaiba lost track of time. So when Mokuba walked into his office, Kaiba looked over at the clock, wondering why Mokuba had left school early. 

“I meant to pick you up,” he informed Mokuba. 

Mokuba just laughed. “You usually do.” 

Kaiba frowned down at his computer. “How was your day?” 

“Same old, same old.” Mokuba shrugged. “One of my friends is having a birthday party this weekend. Can I go?” 

Kaiba focused on Mokuba. “Where is it?” 

“Uh, the paintball place just out of town?” 

“How did you do on the math test yesterday?” 

Mokuba pouted. “You know I won’t get the results back until the end of the week!” 

Kaiba did know that. “I expect you have an idea of how well you did.”

“I think I got an ‘A’.” 

Kaiba nodded, satisfied. “You may go, provided that’s true.” 

“Sweet! Thanks, Seto!” 

Mokuba began to spread his books out on the table in Kaiba’s office, and Kaiba went back to work. On days when Mokuba came straight over to Kaiba Corp. after school, they fell into a usual routine. Mokuba did all of his homework, while Kaiba continued to work. Once Mokuba was done with his homework, he would turn the TV on, starting off with the volume way too high until Kaiba made him turn it down. At some point, he would complain that he was hungry, and Kaiba would be forced to stop working so the two of them could go home for dinner. 

With Mokuba in his life, Kaiba knew he didn’t need anyone else.


	22. (Not So) Secret Admirer

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: (Not So) Secret Admirer

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have just one request. Will you guys let me know if this chapter took a turn that was a little bit too dramatic? I feel like it might have gone a little too far or too over the top? Please let me know. 
> 
> I hope you all enjoy it. Kaiba and the reader continue to misunderstand each other and one of the other subplots comes to surface. I hope it doesn't seem like a hot mess. 
> 
> Enjoy~?

Furious didn’t begin to describe how you felt after the events in the locker room. How dare he kiss you as a joke? Kisses were supposed to mean something. He couldn’t go around kissing you like that. So when you didn’t see him for the rest of the day, you were relieved. Just the thought of having to face him made you feel violent. It was likely that you would have caused a scene had you seen him again. 

Then he wasn’t at school the next day. You told yourself that you still didn’t want to see him anyway. You wanted to give him a piece of your mind, but you were still too upset. You were too willing to punch him. 

On Thursday, he was still absent. You started to feel annoyed that you couldn’t demand an explanation from him. He couldn’t kiss you and then go missing as if it meant nothing! 

To him, it probably did mean nothing, but you still deserved a proper explanation and an apology. Well, just an apology would be fine. You didn’t want him to tell you that it meant nothing.

For a moment, in that moment right when he kissed you, you had let yourself think of him romantically. You had thought that maybe, just maybe, he wanted to date you. Then everything fell apart when he made his snide comment. You felt stupid for thinking that he might be interested in you. 

You were angry with yourself. Kaiba was unobtainable. Hope that he might be interested in you wasn’t something you could nurture. Even if you thought that he might be someone you considered a friend, even that was too much. A friend wouldn’t toy with you like that. 

Maybe his absence was a good thing? Maybe you should just stop spending any time with him. 

You kept glancing back at his usual spot in your programming class. You should ignore him and forget about him. He wouldn’t notice, but it would help remind you that you were not friends or anything more with him. You went to school with him. The end. 

Seto Kaiba was not your friend. There was no use thinking about him. So what if he had kissed you? It meant nothing. 

Your resolve to avoid thinking about him didn’t even last the rest of the day. At the end of the day, you spent a moment just staring at his locker, thinking about the way he always grabbed you and pressed your face to his chest so he could get into his locker. He smelled nice. He didn’t smell like he sprayed himself with any of the gross body spray that most of the boys at school used. No, he smelled like he just used deodorant and nothing else. 

Thinking about how good he smelled made you angry again. Everything between the two of you had been just fine before he had to ruin it by kissing you! Now you couldn’t stop yourself from thinking about silly things like the way he smelled. 

You threw your locker door open and watched a paper flutter to the ground. 

It was probably a love letter from one of Kaiba’s fans. They sometimes got confused and put the letters to him in your locker. Wanting something to tease Kaiba about, you unfolded the letter. 

_I love the way your hair looks today. It makes me want to grab it with my hands and pull you to your knees._

Bile rose up in your throat as you dropped the note. It was another note. Another letter from the unknown man. 

You stared at the letter for a moment, wishing Kaiba had been at school. 

Then you reminded yourself that Kaiba was nothing more than an acquaintance and you could take care of yourself thank-you-very-much. You reached into your bag’s front pocket and palmed your pepper spray. Feeling that tiny bottle made you feel better. 

You left the letter on the floor as you gathered your books. You were littering and should throw it away properly, but you couldn’t bring yourself to go near it again. 

As you left the school, you held your head high and kept your hand wrapped around your pepper spray. You did not need Seto Kaiba. 

He showed up to school on Friday. You found him just standing in front of your lockers in the morning. You marched up to him and made eye contact. He was glaring at you, and you grit your teeth and glared right back. He owed you an apology, not the other way around. 

He shoved a folder at you. “That’s information about the boy stalking you.” 

You took the folder without thinking. “What? How?” There were too many questions flooding your head for you to form a coherent sentence. 

“I’m sure you don’t need any more help from an asshole.” Kaiba pushed past you, his shoulder knocking against yours as he walked away. You watched him as he strode down the hallway, the students parting for him. Then you opened the folder and began looking over the papers. 

It was a report, and the picture attached to it looked familiar. 

The bell rang, and you knew that you should rush to class, but you couldn’t. You had spent more than one sleepless night wondering who was sending you those weird letters. Wondering if there had been something that you had done to trigger them. Kaiba was the only one who knew about them, and only because you had accused him of being the one who put them in your locker. Otherwise, you had been too embarrassed of the contents to mention them to anyone else. 

You hid in the library, wanting to read everything in that folder.

As you read, you realized that Kaiba had hired someone to follow you around and to dig into who was sending you the letters. You were angry that he would just hire someone to follow you without at least letting you know, but at the same time, you were a little bit flattered. 

Had he been worried about you? 

You were horrified to discover that the boy sending you the letters went to your old school. You knew him. He wasn’t a friend or even someone that you dated, but you knew him! 

That wasn’t the worst part. The worst part was that he was watching your home. According to the reports, the investigator had caught him near your home twice. 

You didn’t know how much time passed as you sat in the library reading the reports. This was overwhelming. You felt like you were starring in some sort of movie. It was too bizarre to be real. 

What did you do with this information? Who could you tell?

You looked at the time, checking to see which period it was. You didn’t know what class Kaiba had right now, but it was almost time for P.E. You gathered up all of your stuff and waited for the bell to ring. Once classes let out, you rushed to the boy’s locker rooms, intending to catch Kaiba before he went inside, hoping he was still at school and hadn’t left for the day. 

You breathed a sigh of relief when you saw Kaiba walking toward the locker rooms. You rushed over to him, holding up the folder. “Did you read this?” you asked before he could say anything. 

“Why would I? It’s not my problem.” He tried to move past you, but you blocked him with your body, doing your best to hold your ground. 

“Kaiba, please. I don’t know what to do with this. I don’t know what to do about it. You have experience with this don’t you?” You were babbling, but you needed to communicate that you were scared. You were confused. He was an asshole, but you needed him. 

“Deal with your own problem.” Kaiba glared at you, and his glare made you catch your breath. He looked like he hated you. “I refuse to let you use me when it’s convenient.” 

His glare kept you frozen in place as he walked away.


	23. Lunch

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> **Prompt:** Lunch

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So... this chapter hit 3000 words, and I don't even know. I think it's the longest one, but I really got carried away in Kaiba's head. At first, I started this chapter from the reader's perspective, but I always keep Kaiba's thoughts and actions in mind, and as I was thinking about how he would be handling things, I realized that I wanted to write this update from his head. 
> 
> I think I've finally settled back into his thought processes? Yes? 
> 
> Anyway, I hope this chapter is fun even though it's mostly Kaiba and Mokuba. I hope it doesn't seem to drag at all. Kaiba needed to work through some issues (like living on an island in denial). 
> 
> Enjoy?

Kaiba did not feel bad about refusing to help you. 

He was not worried about you when you weren’t in P.E. 

He didn’t notice that you were absent from the afternoon class that he shared with you. 

He didn’t linger at your locker wanting to see you. 

On his way to work, he wasn’t tempted to go out of his way past your house to make sure your car was there. He didn’t have to smother the urge as he drove straight to work. He was busy, and you didn’t want him.

He told himself that he didn’t care. He told himself that he was spending too much time thinking about you and needed to get back to work immediately. He had a meeting this afternoon that he needed to focus on. 

He threw himself into the quarterly reports. He already had notes on everything that he wanted to go over during the meeting but just being prepared wasn’t enough. Revenue for Kaiba Corp. was looking good, but it could be better. It could always be better. 

Release of the newest Kaiba Corp. game had gone well. It had been well-received by reviewers. It hadn’t outsold expectations, but Kaiba had high expectations. It was still selling well and would likely sell even more once it had been out long enough for a price cut. 

On the other hand, development for the Virtual Reality simulators wasn’t going well. Right now, the simulators were too large to be able to fit in most households. He had a team that was trying to find a way to turn them into something that would fit into an apartment. So far, they were having trouble scaling down the equipment without raising the cost, and Kaiba was beginning to wonder if he really did have to do everything himself. 

Kaiba’s eyes landed on the detective’s report. You liked playing video games. Maybe you would be interested in doing testing for the virtual reality?

He frowned at his own thoughts and checked the time. It was almost time for his meeting. He grabbed his laptop and notebook. He needed to set up for his presentation on where the company was standing coming out of the last quarter. 

He told himself that he wasn’t throwing himself into his work to distract his mind from thoughts of you. He always dedicated himself to his work. 

After his meeting, he found Mokuba sitting in his office and watching TV. Mokuba jumped up when he entered the room. “Seto! I got an ‘A’ on my test!” Mokuba grabbed some papers off the table and waved them around as he ran up to his brother. 

Mokuba presented him with the test, and Kaiba looked it over. “Good job, Mokuba.” Of course he didn’t expect anything less from his brother. He looked down at the work on his desk and then at the copies of the detective’s report. “Should we go out to dinner to celebrate?” 

A huge smile spread across Mokuba’s face. “Do I get to pick where we go?” 

Kaiba grit his teeth, sure he was about to regret his next words. “Within reason.” 

“I want pizza!” Mokuba declared.

Kaiba sighed and began packing up what he needed to bring home from work. “Fine.” He ignored Mokuba’s cheers but felt the edges of his mouth turn up. At least one of them was excited about the prospect of going to a pizza place. 

On the way to dinner, Kaiba asked Mokuba about what he was currently learning in school. Then he asked Mokuba detailed questions about the subject matter to ensure that he understood the material. He was pleased with Mokuba’s responses. He resigned himself to dinner at the pizza parlor that Mokuba loved. His brother deserved it. Kaiba just wished his brother would pick somewhere else. He hated the pizza place that Mokuba liked going to. 

The brightly colored stools and booths were exactly the sort of thing Mokuba liked, but Kaiba thought they were tacky. The plastic on the booths looked cheap and the paint on the stools was chipping. 

Mokuba also enjoyed the old arcade games that were in the parlor. Kaiba had offered to purchase him arcade games and install them in the mansion, but Mokuba kept refusing. He’d tried to explain that beating the high scores in the public games was more fun. Kaiba could see his point, but he still didn’t like the idea of playing on those machines. They looked filthy and attracted loud children. 

In short, he hated everything about the pizza parlor. 

He could tolerate it, but only for Mokuba. 

After Mokuba ate his pizza, he decided that he wanted to try to beat his high score on Space Invaders. Kaiba checked the time. He wanted nothing more than to go home, but Mokuba was doing so well in school. “You have thirty minutes.”

“Sweet! Thanks, Seto!” 

Kaiba grunted as he set a timer on his phone. He knew that Mokuba wouldn’t wait for a response, and once he was done setting the timer, he looked up to see Mokuba already standing in front of the Space Invaders machine. He noticed that his brother’s pants were a little bit short. Mokuba must have grown a few inches recently. He would need new clothes again. 

He turned back to his uneaten pizza and pushed it to the other side of the table. It had too much grease. He should have ordered a salad. He put his briefcase on the table and opened it up. He had some reports he could go over while he was waiting for Mokuba. 

The report regarding your stalker was sitting on the top of his paperwork. He didn’t remember grabbing that from his desk. 

It must have fallen in. He didn’t need to read it again. He had decided that he would have nothing more to do with you. He should toss it in the trash.

He opened the folder, skimming the details that he already knew. 

The boy was obsessed with you. When you transferred to Domino High, he had applied as well, trying to follow you. The school denied his application, and he had dropped out of high school altogether. From what Kaiba could tell, he worked a part time job and then followed you around with his spare time. 

At the very least, you needed a restraining order, but Kaiba knew that those didn’t help. Restraining orders were just words on a piece of paper. One was unlikely to deter your stalker, but it would allow you to call the police anytime he came near you. With luck, he would be put in jail before he did anything to you. 

Kaiba shut the folder. It wasn’t his problem. He didn’t care what happened. 

He tried to work his way through his emails. He hadn’t even finished reading one when his thirty minute timer went off. 

Somehow Kaiba had stared at an email for almost thirty minutes. He told himself that he probably needed more sleep than he was currently getting. He was tired. That was why he was distracted. 

While he was driving home, Kaiba decided to take the long way to avoid traffic in downtown Domino. He told himself that he was not trying to drive past your home. Your home just happened to be on the way. 

He didn’t look to see if your car was in the driveway. He only noticed that your car was there because, just like any good driver, he was paying attention to his surroundings. He didn’t worry that there weren’t any lights on in your home. He didn’t even notice that fact. 

It was none of his business.

Mokuba ran off to his room once they got home, and Kaiba stayed in the kitchen to make himself some dinner. The mansion’s staff were all gone for the day, but the chef had left some food behind in the fridge. Kaiba simply had to put a dish in the microwave. 

Then he took his food up to his office. He needed some sleep, but he should get some work done first. 

He did not think about calling you. He wasn’t supposed to have your home number, and the lights had been off at your home anyway. Not that he wanted to talk to you. He didn’t. He hadn’t missed you during the past few days. 

He didn’t hope that you were okay. Your stalker had been an issue for a while, and so far, you managed to handle yourself. You would be fine. 

The next day, Kaiba took Mokuba to the birthday party. He could have sent Mokuba with a driver, but he wanted to go with him. He had been distracted with work this past week and knew he should spend more time with his little brother. 

He shouldn’t have bothered. The moment he pulled into a parking spot in the lot, Mokuba jumped out of the car with a, “Goodbye, big brother,” and barely a wave as he ran over to a circle of boys. 

Kaiba noted that Mokuba was taller than most of his friends. When had that happened? 

Kaiba had intended on staying at the paintball field while Mokuba and his friends were playing, but Mokuba’s goodbye indicated that he wasn’t expecting his brother to stay. He hesitated but decided he could work in a nearby coffee shop. That way he would be close by, but Mokuba could still have some independence. Mokuba had a cell and could contact him once he needed to be picked up. 

He used his phone to find a coffee place nearby. As he drove there, he organized the work that he had in order of importance, deciding what he would focus on getting done. The development on the virtual reality system could use his eyes, but Kaiba Corp also had a new phone in production, and he needed to approve the final design.

Kaiba never worked on the business aspect of Kaiba Corp. over the weekend if he could avoid it. He preferred to focus on the things he enjoyed. 

The coffee shop was the sort of place that tried to look cozy, opting to have couches and lounge chairs instead of standard tables and chairs. Kaiba hated it immediately. Food and coffee had been spilled on everything at some point and all of the furniture was stained. 

He left without ordering anything. 

The next place was too busy. All the tables were full, and while Kaiba was sure that someone could be convinced to give up their space, he didn’t want to work in an environment with so many people.

He wasn’t thinking about you when he decided to get lunch instead. The restaurant that your stalker worked at happened to be nearby. Kaiba didn’t intend to run into the man who was leaving you unwanted letters. 

Nobody working in the restaurant looked like the boy in the photos. Kaiba didn’t look, but he was an observant man. He would have noticed. 

The food was edible and the table was clean. That was all that mattered. He was just here to work and wait for Mokuba to need a ride home.

He hadn’t thought about threatening your stalker. 

Instead, he focused on his work. He kept an eye on his laptop’s battery life, checking it every so often. It would work for almost a full day without needing to be charged, but he had been too tired to remember to plug it in last night. 

He told himself that thoughts of you weren’t distracting him. 

When someone came to the table to refill his drink, Kaiba glanced up at them as a reflex. Then he gave the boy a second look, narrowing his eyes. 

He hadn't come here to see your stalker. This place happened to be in the area.

However, the boy’s stare was hostile. Kaiba told himself that he didn't tolerate that from anyone. It had nothing to do with you. Kaiba demanded respect from everyone.

“Did you have something to say?” Kaiba maintained eye contact, expecting the boy to back down. His glare communicated that he didn't think the boy was anything more than dirt on his shoes.

“Did you want to order anything else?” The boy stared back at Kaiba, challenging him.

“No.” Kaiba didn't know what this boy assumed about your relationship with him, but it was clear that they both knew who the other one was. Kaiba refused to be the first to acknowledge it. “Where's my waitress?”

“She left for the day.” The boy raised his eyebrow. “I'll be taking over.”

_No. You won't._ “Get me the check.” 

He glared at the boy as he turned to bring the check. Kaiba told himself that he disliked the boy because he didn't know his place. Even if he knew nothing about him, Kaiba would still feel compelled to treat him rudely. 

Kaiba snatched the check and pulled out the necessary amount of money. The boy stayed at the table, glaring right back at him. “If you have something to say, say it,” Kaiba challenged.

The boy said nothing but didn't look away from their glaring contest.

“Are you incapable of speech unless it's anonymous?” Kaiba taunted. “You're weak.”

That elicited a reaction. “She's not yours, Kaiba. Don't come here thinking you can push me around!”

“Perhaps she isn't.” Kaiba smirked. This had nothing to do with you. He was just showing this filth where his place was. “But she'll never be yours. Do you think a high school dropout who can't even ask her out properly could ever deserve her?” Kaiba left before the boy could respond. Nothing more needed to be said. 

He told himself that he would have felt compelled to show that boy his place even without… well, even if he didn’t know you. It had nothing to do with you. 

He still couldn’t understand why someone had fixated on you. You weren’t anyone special. In fact, you were downright annoying. You had let people believe you were dating him, and you had even treated him like your boyfriend. Lately, your actions hinted that you were attracted to him. 

But then, when he kissed you, thinking that was what you wanted, you flipped out. 

The more Kaiba thought about it, the angrier he became. You had been the one sending mixed signals. In fact, he recalled you returning the kiss, and he had a perfect memory. How dare you treat him like a villian? 

He drove straight to your house, ready to demand an apology from you. He wanted you to explain yourself.

Once he got to your home, he rang the doorbell. The door didn’t open the moment the bell stopped ringing, so he began pounding on the door. 

You flung open the door, holding a baseball bat at the ready. You lowered it once your eyes met his, but only a little. You still seemed ready to swing it. “What the hell, Kaiba? Haven’t you ever visited someone? That’s not how you knock.”

Kaiba stared down at you, wondering how well you could swing that bat. His anger had carried him here, but he hadn’t thought about what to say. “You’re too friendly with men. It gives them the wrong impression.”

Your jaw dropped open as your arms fell to your sides. “Are you serious right now?” You grabbed the door and began to close it. “Goodbye, Kaiba.” 

He moved in the way of the door, stopping it from shutting. You stared at him. “Look. I get it. I’ll stop acting friendly with you so people don’t think we’re dating. Message received loud and clear.” 

Kaiba stared at you, wondering why you were spouting nonsense. “I don’t care if people think we’re dating.” 

You were frowning at him now. “Then why did you kiss me?” 

What kind of question was that? You had prompted him to kiss you! “Because you wanted me to act like a better boyfriend!” It wasn’t because he had been overcome by the urge to kiss you. 

“Oh.” You seemed genuinely surprised by his statement. “OH. Um.” You looked down at your shoes. “I thought you were being mean.” 

Now it was his turn to be surprised. He didn’t know why you would think that, but his phone started ringing before he had the chance to say anything. He pulled it out and checked the ID. “It’s Mokuba,” he informed you before answering it. “Are you ready for me to pick you up?” He turned away from you as he spoke. 

“We’re done here, but Hideki’s mom invited us back to his house for cake. Can I go?” 

Kaiba refrained from saying no. He had no reason to make Mokuba come home early. “Will his mother be driving you to their house?” 

“She offered, if it’s okay.” 

“Fine.” Kaiba frowned. He had met Hideki’s mother before, and she seemed… fine. Kaiba had no objections to her. “Text me their address.” 

“Thanks, big brother!” 

“I’m serious about the address. If I don’t have that on my phone in the next ten minutes, I’m going to hunt you down.” 

“Okay, okay. I got it. Thanks again!” Mokuba hung up before he could say anything else. 

Kaiba put his phone away before turning to face you. He was unnerved to see you smiling at him. 

“So why did you decide to show up at my house, Kaiba?” 

Now that he was faced with your annoying disposition, Kaiba realized this had been a bad idea. He should have focused on cutting you out of his life, not showing up at your home to yell at you. He needed an excuse. “I’ve decided to assist you with your problem.” 

“Thanks, but that’s fine.” You shrugged. “I talked to the police yesterday. They started a case for me and referred me to someone who could help with a restraining order.” 

Kaiba stared at you. He couldn’t help but think he had let you down again. This was the second time that he had stood back and let you deal with the problem of your stalker on your own. 

He reminded himself that he didn’t owe you anything. He didn’t owe you his help the first time, and he didn’t owe it to you now. He reminded himself that people needed to deal with their own problems. 

Something caused you to smile at him. “Do you want to come inside?” 

His phone buzzed, and he took a moment to focus on that instead of your offer. Mokuba had sent him an address and a message, “Gonna be here for a while. Hideki’s mom said she’ll take me home.” Kaiba put his phone back away, reminding himself that he was fine with Hideki’s mom. He looked back at you. 

“I suppose I can spare some time for you.” 

Your grin widened as you stepped aside, letting him into your home.


	24. Date

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Date

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kaiba frustrated me quite a bit with this chapter. He likes taking two steps back every time he takes a step forward. 
> 
> I hope this chapter isn't a mess of emotions in a bad way. 
> 
> Work is about to get stressful and busy for me, so I wanted to get this update out here. Not sure when things will slow down again at work, but hopefully I'll still have the energy to get some writing done. The holidays aren't too far off after all~
> 
> Enjoy!

You wondered if you could blame temporary insanity. Seto Kaiba was looking around at your living room, and you still didn’t know why he had come to your home today. Was he expecting you to offer him a seat or a drink? Should you come up with something to do or put a movie in?

Why had you invited him in expecting him to tell you why he was here? You should have just asked him while he was still standing on the front steps.

He looked back at you and seemed to be expecting something from you.

“Would you like something to drink? Water or… something?” You knew he liked coffee, but you weren’t about to offer to start a fresh pot for him.

“Is your water filtered?”

You nodded.

“No.” He turned away from you and looked around at the room again.

His short reply made you frown. “You know bottled water is terrible for the environment?”

He faced you again and raised an eyebrow, as if to ask you why that would matter to him.

You weren’t going to get on your soapbox with Seto Kaiba. He likely didn’t respect you enough to care about your opinion. Instead you walked past him and down the hall to your room. You had been reading in there when he rang the doorbell, and if he wasn’t going to be polite, then you felt like you didn’t have to waste time playing the good hostess.

He followed you to your room and watched as you moved your laptop from your bed and back to your desk. You sat down on your bed and watched him inspect your room. He stayed in the doorway, frowning as he looked around.

It almost seemed like he was uncomfortable. You grinned. “Is this your first time in a girl’s room, Kaiba?”

His eyes narrowed as he focused on you. “That’s none of your business."

You smirked, sure that his response meant that yes, yes this was his first time in a girl’s room. “Well, I hope I’m not giving you the wrong impression by letting you into my room.” Maybe that little dig was uncalled for, but you were still annoyed with him over his statement on your doorstep. Who was he to lecture you about giving people the wrong impression?

He scoffed and looked away from you. “Don’t worry. I’m not interested.”

Ouch. His words stung, but as you studied him, you wondered if he really meant them. “But you wanted to be a good boyfriend?”

“Of course not!” He wasn't glaring at you like you would expect him to do if he were offended by your words. He seemed to be glaring at your computer instead of you.

You felt hope building up in your chest. Had he been serious when he'd asked if his kiss was good enough? Maybe he did like you.

You stood, catching his attention as you walked over to him. “You're blushing,” you teased, and it didn't matter if that was true or not because he couldn't make eye contact with you as he protested that he did not blush.

You stood right in front of him, second guessing yourself but knowing that Seto Kaiba didn't just show up anywhere for no reason. He came into your home of his own free will, and that had to mean something.

So you reached up and cupped his face in your hand, forcing him to look at you. With your other hand, you used his shoulder to keep yourself balanced as you pushed up onto your toes. Closing your eyes, you tilted back your head, presenting him with your mouth. You told yourself that you weren't kissing him because you couldn't reach his lips, but really, you were too nervous.

You needed him to meet you halfway. You needed to know that you weren't imagining things.

With your eyes closed, you had no idea what he was thinking. You didn’t feel any movement from his shoulders. You felt silly with your lips sticking out, even if it was only a little. You wondered how long he would just let you stand here like this? After a moment, disappointment took over, and you let yourself fall back into your heels as you opened your eyes.

His stare kept you from pulling away, and you forgot how to breathe. His eyes stayed locked on yours as if you were the only person on the world.

Then his hand grabbed the back of your head, and he leaned down, pressing his lips to yours hard enough to push your head back and into his hand. You shut your eyes, enjoying the feeling of his lips on yours. His nose pressed into yours, and you tilted your head to the side for a better angle.

He pulled away, and you opened your eyes. His face was still right there. His eyes met yours. You had to look away from his stare. So you looked down at his lips. You gripped the front of his shirt, trying to work out what this all meant.

You leaned forward, placing your lips against his again. You didn’t apply much pressure to his lips, keeping the kiss light. As you broke the kiss, you took a deep breath.

You felt light headed somehow. He’d kissed you. You had kissed him back.

Nerves took over as you stood there in silence. He was studying you but had yet to say anything. What happened next?

“Does this make you my boyfriend?” you whispered, hoping for a yes.

His eyes seemed to widen, but then they narrowed and you weren’t sure if you had imagined the moment of almost surprise. “Don’t be ridiculous.”

You frowned and took a step back. His tone indicated that the answer was a no. Why would he want to date you? “I just… I assumed.” You looked down at your feet. “People don’t normally kiss people they’re not into.” You knew you were rambling, but how could he accuse you of sending mixed signals when he kept kissing you for no reason?

“The word boyfriend is juvenile.”

You looked up at Kaiba, studying his face to figure out what that comment even meant. “You won’t be my boyfriend because you don’t like the word?” He couldn't be that ridiculous?

He refused to make eye contact with you and remained silent.

Maybe he was that ridiculous.

“So if I can't call you my boyfriend, what do I call you?”

That made him look at you. He smirked. “You may continue to refer to me as Kaiba.”

You felt your jaw drop. You didn't even know where to start responding. He'd avoided your real question and was letting you know that you still didn't have first name privileges… Only he could pull off being so rude in so few words.

You remembered that time you thought that he was asking you out and said no because he was such an asshole. Maybe you shouldn't have changed your mind on that…

Kaiba took out his phone and looked at it. “I will return on Monday to pick you up before school.”

You raised an eyebrow. “Why would you pick me up? I'm not your girlfriend.”

Kaiba frowned. “Don't be difficult.”

You glared back at him. You didn’t feel like you were the one being difficult in this situation. “I can take myself to school. There’s no need for you to go out of your way.”

“Fine.” He turned and strode down the hall to the door.

You trailed behind him, wondering how he’d gone from kissing you to being angry. As he pulled open your front door, you called out his name. He turned to face you. You caught yourself wondering if it would be possible to kiss his glare away.

You needed to get a grip.

“I’ll see you at school on Monday?”

He sighed. Then he nodded once before turning away from you.

“I’m going to call you my boyfriend,” you said, rushing to get the words out before you could over think them. “Unless you tell me that you don’t like me.”

He stopped on your porch. “I don’t dislike you.” Then he pulled your door shut, blocking off your view of him.

You stayed frozen in the same position. His words played over and over.

_I don’t dislike you._

That meant he liked you! Right?

_I don’t dislike you._

Well, at the very least, he didn’t hate you?

_I don’t dislike you._

Did that mean he wanted to be your boyfriend? He was okay with being your boyfriend?

_I don’t dislike you._

Why did he have to be so difficult? Couldn’t he just say what he meant instead of beating around the bush like an immature loser?

You turned and rushed back into your room. You had too many conflicting emotions. You weren’t sure what to think about his words. You needed to call Kana and give her a play-by-play of every single thing that just happened. She might not have the best advice, but you needed a second opinion.

You let your body fall down onto your bed once you’d grabbed your phone. Seto Kaiba was your boyfriend! Or at least, you thought he was your boyfriend. You’d never had a boyfriend before, and you weren’t sure what happened next? Would he expect you to hold his hand at school? Would he take you out on a date?

You shook your head, trying to keep yourself grounded. He may not be your anything.

You called Kana, eager to hear what she had to say about your day.


	25. Holding Hands

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Holding Hands

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Do you like fluff? I hope so because I love fluff, and that is really all this update is. 
> 
> New relationships are so awkward, meanwhile. It's all "I know you're into me but I kind of would like to snuggle up to you but am I allowed to do that or is that too much too soon? I mean it's just snuggling but do you like contact?" 
> 
> Or maybe that sort of unneeded angst is just me? 
> 
> Aha, well, either way, please enjoy!

For the rest of the weekend, you thought about Kaiba. It was embarrassing just how much you obsessed over your kiss with him and what it could mean. You never thought of yourself as the type of girl who would spend so much time thinking about a guy…

So you tried to distract yourself by gaming, but when all your favorite games said, “Kaiba Corp,” on the side, it was hard to not think about Kaiba. 

Speaking to Kana should have made things easier, she’d said that Kaiba was _obviously_ your boyfriend now. You hoped she was right, but you couldn’t be sure. It was hard to be sure about someone like Kaiba. 

Especially when you didn’t even have his number. You couldn’t call him or text him. You couldn’t do any of the things that you imagined girls would do with their boyfriends. You knew where he lived, but everyone knew where Seto Kaiba lived, and you didn’t think his security would let you through the gate.

So you avoided thinking about him until Monday. 

You knew that you told him not to pick you up for school, but you found yourself taking a little extra time and lingering at home, wondering if he might show up anyway. It seemed like he’d been dissuaded by your no, but he might still drop by. He was stubborn. That was something you knew about him. 

He didn’t show up before you had to leave for school. You weren’t expecting him to show up, but you had let yourself hope, so you couldn’t help but feel a little disappointed. 

Your disappointment faded when you arrived at school and found Kaiba standing in front of your locker. You bounced over to him with a smile. “Hi.” 

He looked at you and grunted before moving aside so you could access your locker. His lack of enthusiasm hit you in the gut, and you stood frozen for a moment as your smile slipped off your face. Someone walked by and said hello to you, knocking you out of your stupor. You waved at them and might have said hello back. Then you took a step forward and began to twist the combination for your locker. 

_Why wasn’t Kaiba happy to see you?_

Your thoughts distracted you, and you had to redo the combination twice before the lock popped open. As you pulled the door open, you shot a glance at Kaiba. He stood next to you without looking at you. 

You put in the books that you’d carried home, making sure that you had what you needed for your first two classes. At least Kaiba seemed to be waiting for you. That was new. It meant something.

You shut your locker and stared at Kaiba. The first bell rang, signalling that you needed to get to class ASAP. He didn’t say anything to you, and you didn’t have time to stand around waiting. So you started walking to your first class of the day. 

He kept pace with you, but you weren’t sure what he was thinking. He walked you to class, just like a boyfriend would, but then he left without a single word. 

Some of your classmates spent the class whispering, but you couldn’t be sure it was about you. To them, your relationship with Kaiba was old news. Sure, he didn’t generally walk you to class, but they probably had something more interesting to gossip about. 

You wanted other people to think that it was a big deal because you wanted to think that it meant something. 

Time crept by in class, but you wouldn’t have been able to tell anyone what had happened. Once class ended, you left for your next class and found Kaiba standing in the hallway, waiting for you. You kept walking to your next class to be sure that he was waiting on you, and when he began to walk next to you, you knew he was walking you to class. 

You wanted to ask why but couldn’t. Your stomach was a bundle of nerves, and when you opened your mouth, nothing came out. 

What if he rejected you? 

What if he thought you were silly? 

These weren’t familiar thoughts. At some point, you had become comfortable around Kaiba, but now that he had kissed you, everything seemed to be different. You tried to tell yourself not to be a wuss, but before you were able to work up any courage, you were at your next class. 

This was a class that you shared with Kaiba, but he sat in the back of the room while you were closer to the front. He strode to his seat, and you walked to your own. 

Kana pounced on you the moment that you sat down. “Well?” 

“I don’t know,” you confessed, glancing back at Kaiba. He already had a book out and was focused on it. “He walked me to my first class and then to this one, but he hasn’t said anything.” 

She pouted. “Nothing?” Then she looked back at him, too. “He should at least hold your hand. Even if it he is against public kissing.” She frowned and made a face. “I bet he is against kissing in public. What a shame.” As if it affected her directly. 

You shrugged. You had nothing to share with her. 

It was disappointing. 

“Maybe you should dump him and date someone else?” she suggested. 

“Kana!” You glanced back at Kaiba, hoping he hadn’t heard. “No!” 

“Why not? I mean Kaiba may be the hottest guy around, but he sounds kind of useless as a boyfriend. He didn’t even offer to hold your bag!” 

“It’s not about that,” you mumbled. Shouldn’t class be starting? You looked over at the teacher, hoping she would stand and interrupt this conversation. 

Kana scoffed, letting you know her opinion on the matter. Then she ripped a piece of paper out of her notebook and began writing. 

“What are you doing?” 

“Don’t worry about it,” she said, not even looking up from the paper. 

You felt like that meant you really needed to worry about it, but your teacher chose that moment to start class, and you had to turn around and pay attention to the front of the room. Your imagination ran wild as you tried to figure out what Kana was doing. 

She couldn’t be writing a note to Kaiba… She wouldn’t dare. 

Of course she would. She was fearless and blunt. That was why you liked her. 

If she and Kaiba were stuck together in a room, they would likely kill each other. Anything that she wrote to him would backfire, causing him to reconsider his relationship with you. 

You glanced back at her. She’d stopped writing, but the note was nowhere to be seen. You turned around to get a good look at Kaiba…

And the teacher called on you. 

You snapped to attention, trying to remember what was going on and reading the board hoping it would give you a clue. What class were you even in again? You felt your face heating up as you faced your teacher’s frown. 

“The fifth of June, eighteen-ninety-five,” Kaiba drawled from the back of the room. “Although I fail to see how this specific event is important in comparison to anything else that occurred that year.”

In the front of the room, the teacher stared at Kaiba. His mouth hung ajar and his hand stayed frozen mid gesture. You felt like you were making a similar expression. 

Your teacher recovered first. “All historic events are important in context, Mr. Kaiba.” He then changed the subject, unwilling to butt heads with a corporate CEO. 

You slid down in your seat, feeling the eyes of your classmates as they looked at you. Seto Kaiba had just made a statement. He wasn’t stupid and had to know that. You couldn’t doubt that he saw you as his in some way. 

For the rest of the class, the teacher refused to look at you. You couldn’t decide if you liked the lack of attention. At least it gave you time to think about the fact that Kaiba was officially your boyfriend. By the end of the day, everyone would probably hear about what just happened. 

Class ended, and Kaiba didn’t stalk out of the classroom like he normally did. Instead, he waited by your desk and walked you out of the room. You had to switch out some of your books, so you made your way to your locker, noticing the way the student body seemed to just part and step aside for Kaiba. 

At your locker, you put away the books that you didn’t need and made sure you had what you needed for your next classes. As you shut your locker, you looked at Kaiba directly for the first time all day. 

He wouldn’t make eye contact, and under your gaze, he shifted his weight from side to side, just enough for you to notice it. It gave you the courage to reach down and grab his hand. His eyes widened and he looked down at your hand holding his own. 

You were gripping his palm. It felt like you were clutching his hand. So you adjusted your hand, threading your fingers between his. 

He looked away but he didn't pull his hand away from yours. 

His neck might have turned a little red, but you weren’t going to tease him about it and risk having him pull away. You felt like your face might be turning red, too. 

The two of you walked to your next class hand-in-hand.


	26. Valentine's Day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Valentine's Day

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Valentine's Day everyone~! 
> 
> There was a prompt for this on my list so of course I had to jump right into it. This update really stands alone (or I hope it does) kind of like the special episodes on a TV show. Yes, it's the same characters and plot, but at the same time, it's set aside from the plot a little. I dunno. 
> 
> I'm not huge on the 14th of February. (The 15th is where it's at!) Regardless of your feelings about this day, I hope you can enjoy this update!

It was difficult for you to sleep the night before Valentine’s Day. Your nerves seemed to take over, powering your brain and stopping it from being able to rest. You were so nervous about giving Kaiba his chocolate that you showed up early for school.

You beelined for your locker, deciding that you would wait for Kaiba there. If you gave him the candy right away, then you wouldn’t have time to overthink it and wuss out.

As you approached your locker, you noticed the abundance of pink and red decorating the area. Kaiba’s locker was already overflowing with Valentine’s related things. The door of his locker hung open and the slats had letters and cards sticking out of them. As you approached, your foot kicked something, and you jumped as it banged against the lockers. When you glanced down, you saw a lock sitting on the floor. You kneeled next to it and lifted the lock up. Part of it was still locked in place, but it seemed to have a piece missing.

A quick check assured you that your locker was still firmly shut and locked.

Holding Kaiba’s broken lock in one hand, you inspected his locker. Nothing in the locker seemed to belong to him, and you wondered if his stuff had been stolen or if he just never left anything in there. You hated to admit that you had no idea what he kept in his locker.

You didn’t mean to look at the things that had been left for him, but you couldn’t help yourself. A lot of it looked better than your chocolates. There was a beautifully wrapped package with an origami dragon on top instead of a bow. Another box had an expensive brand name on it, and you didn’t know exactly how much a box that size cost, but you were surprised anyone other than Kaiba had been able to afford them. On the side, a clear bag gave you a view of the chocolates inside, and the little espresso beans on top of them made your heart sink. You should have thought of that.

You put the broken lock down inside Kaiba’s locker and began twisting the combination for your own locker.

Your chocolates seemed so plain in comparison to all of that. You placed your box in your locker, wondering if you should scrap the whole idea. You’d managed to make some dark chocolates as well as milk chocolates, but otherwise there wasn’t anything special about them. You made sure you had the right books for your first two classes and slammed your locker shut.

You trudged to class, unable to look at the overflowing locker any more.  

Maybe you shouldn’t have given up on your original ideas for Kaiba’s candy, but the truffles that you’d tried to make had turned into such a mess and looked so weird with streaks of white and odd clumping. You doubted that Kaiba would have been willing to put those anywhere near his mouth.

As you sat in your first class, you stared at the top of the lab table and waited for class to start. Some of your classmates said hello as they came in, but you barely noticed them.

You reminded yourself of what Mokuba had said when you asked him what sort of chocolate his brother liked. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen my brother eat candy.” The chocolate had been a bad idea period. So now you just needed to think of a better present before the end of the day.

You slid down in your seat, wanting the class to just be over before it even began. You felt like the worst girlfriend.

Once class started, you tried to focus on the work, but you kept skipping steps, and eventually your lab partner took over. Just more evidence that you couldn’t do anything right.

After class ended, you rushed out, not wanting to face Kaiba, but he was already waiting in the hallway for you. You stopped in front of him and forced a smile onto your face. “Hi!”

Kaiba took a step away from you, glancing over like you were about to maul him. Your greeting might have been too enthusiastic. You reminded yourself to act natural. You weren’t about to be a terrible girlfriend, no.

“I saw your locker,” you blurted out.

He scowled. “I hate this holiday.” He began walking toward your next class without another glance at you. You watched for a moment, feeling like it might be okay if you didn’t give him the chocolate. Then you hurried after him, knowing he wasn’t going to slow down for you.

His long legs carried him to the next class while you hustled to keep up with him. People moved out of the way as he strode to his desk in the back of the room. As you settled into your own desk, you wondered if he was even expecting anything from you.

Maybe you should have just bought him the Blue-Eyes chocolates that you saw when you were out shopping for ingredients.

As Kana pranced over to her desk, she put a small lump of foil on your desk. You turned in your seat to raise your eyebrow at her. “It’s for you!” She smiled. “A piece from the batch I made for my boyfriend.”

“Thanks!” You picked up the ball and began pulling the foil off. The ball of chocolate inside had turned out much better than yours. The chocolate wasn’t lumpy or discolored, and Kana had even put some sprinkles on it.

The answer to whether or not you could feel more like a failure was yes, yes you could. Maybe you should have set aside some of the chocolates for Kana as well.

The moment you bit into her chocolate, you decided that would have been a bad idea. You didn’t need to let her know how poorly your chocolate turned out. Kaiba didn’t need to try your chocolate either. You would have to come up with something else for him.

You glanced back at him, wishing this weren’t so difficult.

Kaiba walked you to your next class, even though he wasn’t in it, and you were so nervous about the rest of Valentine’s Day that you didn’t even say goodbye as you hurried into the class.

Masao greeted you as you walked into the class. You forced a smile on your face as you approached him. He grinned from ear to ear. “Happy Valentine’s Day.”

“Happy Valentine’s Day!” You opened your bag. “I have something for you,” you said as you pulled out a small bag. There were only a handful of chocolates in the bag, not nearly as many as you set aside for Kaiba, and they were all the lumpy and especially weird looking ones. “Enjoy!” You put the bag on his desk. “Even though, I’m sure they’ll just join your growing pile of chocolates from all the girls!”

“Thanks! Wow!” He opened the bag, and you studied his face, looking for any hint of distaste. “This is AWESOME!”

“Good.” You smiled. At least Masao liked his little friendship chocolates. That didn’t mean you could give Kaiba his own box. Kaiba was pickier than Masao. “Let me know how they are!”

You stepped away and went back to your seat, still trying to come up with an idea for Kaiba. If only he were just your average guy.

Then again, you might not have been interested in him. You smiled to yourself as you tried to focus on your notes for class. You should have just purchased him something Blue Eyes themed. That really was the only option for a man who never seemed to eat sugar. At least then he would enjoy the decoration.

Maybe you should go out after school and see if you could find something. There probably wasn’t anything decent left at this point, but it was worth a shot.

Masao followed you out once class was done. “The chocolate is really good!”

“Thanks!” You waved, not wanting to get into a conversation with him about it. It still wasn’t good enough. Then you made eye contact with Kaiba and everything froze. His eyes narrowed as he frowned. Then his focus turned away from you, and his mouth twisted into a snarl. That never meant anything good for anyone.

You followed his gaze and realized his focus was on Masao. Well, crap. That was something you should have seen coming.

You beelined straight for Kaiba, preparing yourself for the focus of his anger. It wasn’t underserved. “We’re starting tennis today, aren’t we?” You grinned as Kaiba focused back on you. “In gym. It’s the start of tennis, right?”

His scowl remained on his face as he turned away from you and stalked away without a word. You dogged his steps, unwilling to let him get away until he reached the boys’ locker rooms. “I bet you’re good at tennis. You should be my doubles partner!” He didn’t respond. “I’m taking your silence as a yes, Kaiba.” Still nothing. “I’m pretty terrible at tennis. We’ll probably lose.”

Once he turned into the boys’ locker room, you dashed into the girls’ locker room. You needed to get changed and get out there before Kaiba could think about partnering with someone else. Yes, he had a reason to be angry. You would be upset if he gave some other girl something for White Day, but you needed a chance to explain that you just had yet to give him his Valentine’s Day gift.

Maybe you should say it was a surprise for later?

Past Valentine’s Days were never this bad. This might possibly be your worst Valentine’s Day ever.

When you emerged from the locker room, you found Kaiba standing next to some guy and talking to him. The fact that he seemed willing to have a conversation with someone would be surprising enough, but the boy he was talking to looked like the kind of person you might see at a punk rock concert. He didn’t seem like someone Kaiba would willingly converse with.

You needed to know what was going on. You sidled up to them, openingly eavesdropping on their conversation about… tournaments? And they were having a brofest about Duel Monsters. That wasn’t surprising at all. You reassessed the boy with the spiked hair. This must be the Yugi that you’d heard about. You thought Kaiba hated him.

Now both boys were staring at you. Well, walking up to them and staring at them wasn’t very subtle. “Hi!” You held your hand out to Yugi and introduced yourself.

“Oh! Nice to meet you.” He shook your hand. “I’ve heard a lot about you!”

“Really?” You grinned at Kaiba.

Kaiba scowled back. “Not from me.”

“Sure. Sure." You believed him. The rumor mill was the likely culprit. Still, you enjoyed teasing Kaiba. "Ready to partner up?”

“Yugi insisted on _teaming up_.”

Yugi’s eyes widened. “If you’d rather play doubles with your…” Kaiba’s glare caused him to shut his mouth. Once Yugi stopped talking, Kaiba turned and moved to his place with the class. Yugi mouthed, “Sorry,” at you as Kaiba stalked away. You shrugged. It wasn’t his fault.

With everything going on, you found that you didn’t have any energy for tennis, and as a result, you and your partner ended up losing the matches right away. By the end of the class, you were sitting on the sidelines, watching as the best teams played against each other.

Mostly you just stared at Kaiba as he dominated his match. You admired his long legs as he crossed the court with ease. The muscles in his arm flexed as he swung the racket, making you wonder what he was hiding under his shirt. His anger showed as he whacked the tennis balls across the court, sometimes hitting them too hard.

Yugi still had a smile on his face, taking in all of Kaiba’s poor sportsmanship with ease. You realized that you wouldn’t be able to partner with Kaiba in anything competitive. Kaiba’s stream of constant criticism would get under your skin. Yugi, on the other hand, was either very used to it or just didn’t care.

Your bet was on the latter.

P.E. helped you decide to give Kaiba the chocolates. If he didn’t like them, then fine. At least, you’d given him something. So you cornered him on his way out of the locker room. Having thrown your clothes on as quickly as possible, you felt like a mess, but you could fix yourself at some point during lunch. It was more important to give Kaiba his gift before he could get even angrier.

He refused to look at you as you tried to get his attention. You called his name, over and over, as you followed him down the hallway, but he wouldn’t stop walking.

Then you realized he was heading for the exit. He couldn’t go home!

“Seto.” His name felt weird in your mouth, but he turned with a snarl so at least it got his attention. “Your box of chocolates is in my locker.”

The anger fell off his face as if someone had just wiped it down with an eraser. The shock only stayed there for a moment before he schooled his features into his I-have-no-emotions-about-this expression. It meant that he had some very embarrassing emotions about this. You decided now was probably not the best time to tease him. 

So you turned and led him to your locker. 

His locker seemed to be stuffed to the brim now, and once you caught sight of the amount of Blue Eyes themed sweets, you decided that not going that route had been a smart idea. Your lock was still in place so you twisted the combination and opened it. Last night when you wrapped the box, you had been satisfied and pleased with your work. Today it seemed plain in comparison to some of the other things in his locker. 

You took the box out and handed it to him. He took the box without a word and stared down at it. Then he began unwrapping it, letting the paper fall to the floor. He opened the box and picked up one of the chocolates. He brought it up to his face and studied it. 

"They're handmade," you blurted out, hoping that would make up for their appearance. 

"I don't like chocolate." 

Your heart fell to the floor. You suspected that might be the case, but you had been hopeful that he would at least enjoy some form of chocolate if you gave him a mixture of milk, dark, and white. Your eyes stung as you turned back to your locker, putting away your books to keep your hands busy. You took a deep breath. It was okay. You shut your locker, paused, and then turned around to face him. 

He was studying you now. You looked at the chocolate that he still held in his hand. "You don't have to eat them if you don't want to." You held out another small bag. "I made these little bags for a few people, and this one is for Mokuba, but you can give the box to him, too, if you want." 

He glanced between the bag and his massive box. " _Everyone_ else received that." 

You nodded. 

He put the chocolate back in the box and replaced the lid. "This is adequate." He took the bag that you had set aside for Mokuba. "I'll pass this along." Then he turned and began heading for the library. 

You stood in place and watched him go. At least he was keeping the box? 

He turned to look back at you. "Are you going to just stand there like an idiot?" 

You smiled and took off after him. You had been forgiven by his highness apparently. Your present must have at least been acceptable then. 

You tried not to think about the chocolates for the rest of the day, but in your last period, Kaiba sat down next to your usual computer with the chocolates sitting out on the desk. You sat next to him, unsure why he wasn't in the back at his personal computer. You knew from first hand experience that he refused to change his seating for anyone. 

Then he opened the box of chocolates. You stared at him, but he ignored you and focused on the students trickling into the classroom. 

Masao came into the room and stopped in front of your desk, staring at Kaiba. You could tell that he wasn't sure if he should ask Kaiba to move or find a different seat. Kaiba smirked at him and picked up one of the chocolates from his box. You watched as Kaiba bit into the chocolate, eating it right in front of Masao. 

You were torn between being pleased that Kaiba was eating your chocolate and offended that he was using it to be petty. 

He was eating the dark chocolate pieces! 

After consuming two pieces, Kaiba looked over and raised an eyebrow at you. You knew that you were staring open mouthed, but it was hard to stop. 

Your brain came back after a moment. "I better get something for White Day." 

He just smirked at you before taking the box of chocolates to his usual computer in the back of the room. 


	27. School Uniform

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: School Uniform

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And a new story arc begins... 
> 
> Enjoy!

It started with a missing uniform.

The lockers for the P.E. locker room didn’t have locks on them. Some people put locks on their locker while they were using it but not you. You never thought much about it since you only used it to store your clothing during P.E. You left your stuff in your normal locker for that period.

But one day, after P.E, you opened your locker to find that it was empty.

You shut the locker door, studying the wall of lockers as if you’d picked the wrong one, but no, this was your locker. You pulled the door open again. There still wasn’t anything inside. So you checked all the nearby lockers, thinking maybe you had put your stuff in the wrong locker.

Your clothes were nowhere to be found.

All around you, girls were changing back into their school uniforms while you were stuck in your gym clothing. You couldn’t understand where your uniform had gone. Could someone have grabbed it by accident?

Then you noticed two girls looking over at you. One of the girls held a hand to her mouth to muffle her giggles. That was when it hit you. This was not a mistake.

You narrowed your eyes and stormed over to them. Two of them stared at you, mouths hanging open, but the third one just raised an eyebrow. You deflated, unsure what to do next. Should you confront them? What would you even say?

“What do you want?” The third girl spat each word out, and you almost found yourself taking a step back.

“Where’s my uniform?” You tried to sound threatening but didn’t pull it off.

The leader scoffed and rolled her eyes while the other two laughed. Their laughter sounded forced, and you studied them, trying to figure out what to do. Confrontation wasn’t your strong point. “Look. I just need my uniform back, and we can all put this nonsense behind us,” you pleaded. You didn’t want to get detention for not wearing your uniform.

The girls rolled their eyes and exchanged glances communicating how amusing they found this situation. The leader stepped forward and leaned down so her face was close to yours. You tried to stay still. “We didn’t do anything. Honestly, did you think you could get away with prancing around like you were worthy of Kaiba?” She smirked, and you wondered if she spent time trying to mimic Kaiba’s signature expression. “The fanclub has decided that it’s time to take you down.” She paused and looked down at her nails, studying them before looking back up at you. “I’d change schools now if I were you.”

Then she turned and walked away from you, the other two girls falling into place behind her. You watched them go. What were you going to do now? Then you looked around the locker room and realized that almost everyone had left.

You were going to be so late for your next class.

Since you were doomed to get in trouble if you tried walking around in your gym clothes anyway, you did a lap of the locker room, searching for your clothes. You didn’t give up the search until girls from the class after yours began to trickle in.

Your eyes stung as you trudged out of the locker room. Maybe you should go home for the day?

But those uniforms weren’t cheap! You only had two of them. Your parents would be so angry if they had to buy another, and how would you explain it to them? You couldn’t tell them that some girls had grabbed the uniform. It was embarrassing. They would want to go to the principal, too, and you didn’t want to turn this into a big deal.

You kept your eyes low to the ground as you walked to your locker. When a hand landed on your shoulder, stopping you from moving forward, you looked up to find Kaiba standing next to you.

You stared at him, wondering what he wanted.

After a moment, he finally spoke, “What are you doing in your P.E. clothes?”

You opened your mouth, but your brain didn’t supply any words. Nobody would ever consider doing anything like this to Kaiba. He wouldn’t understand.

You looked around. The hallway was empty, and you’d walked right past your locker without realizing it. “You’re missing class,” you informed Kaiba.

He raised an eyebrow, his expression asking you if that was important.

You sighed, knowing he wouldn’t give up without an answer. “My uniform is missing.”

“How could you possibly lose your uniform during P.E?”

Your hackles rose at his condescending tone. “I didn’t _lose_ it! It was stolen!”

His grip on your shoulder tightened as his face twisted into a glare. “Who?”

“I don’t know.” You tried to pull away but his grip was too tight. You wondered how this could have happened to you. Kaiba’s glare made you feel like maybe this was your own fault. If only you were as intimidating as him, nobody would have done this to you. You shut your eyes and took a deep breath, not wanting to cry in front of anyone, especially Kaiba.

“How do you not know?”

“I wasn’t there, okay? It’s not like they just took it, and I let them, okay?” You could feel your eyes beginning to water. How dare he interrogate you?

How could you have lost your uniform like that?

“Someone from your fanclub… maybe more than one of them.”

That answer caught him off guard. His eyebrows furrowed as he thought about what you’d said. You could see the moment it clicked into place for him. “What juvenile idiots.”

Your full name was called out. You and Kaiba turned to see a teacher walking over to both of you. For some reason, the teacher opted to address only you. “What are you doing in the hallways during class?”

“This isn’t your concern,” Kaiba responded. “Move along.”

“Mr. Kaiba, I understand that we’re supposed to be understanding of your special needs, but you can’t possibly expect me to believe that the two of you are dallying in the hallway for anything related to your work.” The teacher seemed to scan you. “And why aren’t you wearing your uniform? That’s a detention!”

“You won’t be giving her a detention.” Kaiba pulled you behind him as he stepped between you and the teacher. “Now. Move. Along.” Each word came out of his mouth like a dagger.

“I think you are deserving of a detention as well, Mr. Kaiba!”

He turned his back to her, and you caught the end of an eye roll. Then he dragged you down the hallway, leaving the sputtering teacher behind.

You stumbled after him, only pulling your hand away from him once he’d dragged you out of the building. “You know my stuff is still in my locker?”

He looked down at you and then back at the building. “Do you really need any of it?”

Was he kidding? “Are you asking if I need my house keys? You know the things I use to get into my house? Or my car keys?”

He sighed. “Fine. Stay here, and I’ll get your bag. What’s your combo?”  

You told him your locker combo, and he left you to wait outside of the school. You sat down on the curb right before the parking lot and waited for him. It seemed like hours dragged by as you waited, your baggy gym clothes reminding you how horrible this day had been. You picked at the bottom of the shirt, wanting to go home. You would head home if you could, but without your bag, you were stuck here waiting for Kaiba.

He finally showed up with your school bag in hand.

“Thanks.” You couldn’t look at him as you took the bag from him. “See you tomorrow.”

“Wait.” He grabs your wrist before you can walk away. “What are you going to do about your stolen uniform?”

What were you going to do? What could you do? You didn’t even really know who to hold responsible. “Nothing... lock my clothes up probably… wash my uniform more so I don’t have to buy another… ugh.” You couldn’t think about this anymore. You needed to get home so you could change and forget about this day forever. You pulled away from Kaiba without another word and hurried over to your car, eager to get away. This day needed to be over already.

The next day, you decided to skip school. You faked being sick and stayed home in bed. Once you had the house to yourself, you started playing video games in your pajamas.

You were thinking about skipping the next day, too, when the doorbell rang.

You ignored it. It was the middle of the day. Anyone at the door had to be a door-to-door salesman or something similar.

Then the knocking began and wouldn’t stop.

You knew who it would be even before you pulled the door open. “You could have called first.”

“You weren’t at school.”

“No, but…” Then you noticed the garment bag that he was carrying. “What’s that?”

He shoved it at you without an explanation. “Don’t skip out on another day. Don’t be weak.”

“I wasn’t.” You were, but he made you feel defensive. “I didn’t feel well today.”

“Bullshit.” He pushed the bag forward until he forced you to take it from him. “Don’t show weakness by not showing up tomorrow. If you do that, then you give them power over you and they win.” He didn’t wait for a response before leaving.  

You watched him get into his limo, knowing that he was right. You shut the door and looked down at the bag in your hands. Unzipping it, you found a brand new Domino High girls’ uniform.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I feel like Kaiba would be a "tough love" sort of person. Especially given some of the things he's said to Mokuba in the past.
> 
> I've never really been bullied on an extreme level, so I hope that I was able to convey the reader's emotional response both well and accurately. D: I dearly hope none of you are able to tell me from experience if I've got a good handle on it, but feedback is welcome.


	28. Late for Class

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Continuing the Kaiba Birthday Celebration~!
> 
> This is going up later than I wanted it to... but ugh, this update was so difficult to write! I kept adjusting things and picking at it and... I think it's now time to move on to the next one... D: 
> 
> I think we're due for a switch to Kaiba's POV with the next update? 
> 
> Enjoy!

When you arrived at school the next day, you found Kaiba leaning against your locker and glaring at everyone who walked by.

Then again, he was also leaning against his own locker, and he always glared at everyone, so this wasn't anything new.

He moved out of the way so you could open your locker. You waited for him to say something, but he remained quiet as you grabbed your books for the day.

“I showed up,” you said as you shut your locker and locked it.

“You don't get credit for not being a wimp.”

You frowned. You didn't want to admit that you had hoped for him to say something somewhat nice. You thought he might be encouraging even if he weren’t nice.

But of course, he was Seto Kaiba. Not being mean was considered nice for him.

He walked you to class without a word and glared at anyone between your locker and the classroom. He even followed you into the room, walking you to your desk and staring down everyone in there for good measure.

You put your bag down on top of the desk and tried to think of something snarky to say, but he was gone before you could come up with anything clever. So you settled into your seat, focusing on the the front of the room and trying to tune out your classmates.

During class, you focused on taking notes. Maybe you couldn’t be fearless, but you could be smart, and that was something right?

When class ended, you scooped up your stuff and hurried out. Kaiba was standing guard right outside the classroom, and you almost ran into him. You skirted around him without making eye-contact and rushed on to your next class. He fell into step next to you, his long legs allowing him to keep up with little effort.

The next class was one that the two of you had together, but he escorted you to your seat before walking to his own in the back.

Kana leaned over once he was gone, staring at him. “He looks ready to murder someone.”

You shrugged. What could you say? You knew that his actions were likely protective in nature, but at the same time, you wondered if needing to help you out annoyed him.

“I heard about what those bitches did to your uniform.” She frowned. “I feel bad about skipping P.E. that day. I would’ve helped you kick their asses!”

You shook your head, wondering if that would have been a better response. Maybe you should have thrown a punch or two instead of just leaving the school with your tail between your legs. “I don’t want to talk about it,” you muttered.

Kana opened her mouth to say something, but then the teacher called the class to order, forcing her to settle back into her seat.

Kana tried to corner you after class, but you hurried out of there, rushing away in a jog that was ready to turn into a run. Kaiba would catch up. Even if he didn’t, it didn’t matter. How much trouble could you get into in the hallway?

You winced right after that thought made its way through your brain. Way to jinx yourself. You slowed to a walk, letting Kaiba catch up to you.

“Sorry,” you said, still not looking at him.

He didn’t respond but kept pace as you walked to your next class. This time he dropped you off at the door.

Masao greeted you at your desk. “Hey!”

“Hi.” You gave him a half-smile as you sat. His greeting had been too loud, too cheerful. He must have heard. You silently hoped that he wouldn’t bring it up.

After a pause, he asked, “You’re still dating Kaiba?”

“Yes?” You couldn’t stop the word from turning into a question of its own. Even as Kaiba continued to act like a boyfriend, you still couldn’t feel sure that dating was the right word for whatever was going on between the two of you. Then you pressed a hand to your mouth. “Do you think…” You let the question trail off. Masao wasn’t the right person to ask.

Would Kaiba break up if he decided that you were too weak to be his girlfriend?

Masao waited for you to finish your thought, but you turned away from him. “Class is about to start.” You took out your notebook, and focused on filling in the date for today’s notes.

Masao grabbed your arm when class ended, holding you down in your seat. “You know they wouldn’t target you if you weren’t dating Kaiba.”

“I don’t know what you mean.” You tried to pull your arm away, but he tightened his grip.

“Don’t play dumb. Kaiba’s fanclub isn’t going to leave you alone until you break up with him. C’mon. He’s not worth all that.”

Then a hand reached out, prying Masao’s fingers away from your arm until Masao yelped in pain. You looked up to see Kaiba staring down at Masao, his face carefully blank of any emotion. “Don’t touch her,” he warned before releasing Masao’s hand.

Then he grabbed your hand, pulling you up from your desk. You caught a glimpse of your teacher staring open-mouthed as Kaiba dragged you out of the room. Kaiba pulled you along until he reached your locker. At the lockers, he stopped. He stood there, quiet, glaring down at the floor. He didn’t release your hand. You tried to pull it away so you could open your locker, and his grip tightened.

“OW!” you shouted as his hand tried to crush your knuckles.

He released your hand. You held it against your chest for a moment, half expecting an apology. Then you turned back to your locker and unlocked it. You put your bag in your locker and pulled out your P.E. uniform.

“Do you have a lock for P.E?”

You turned to Kaiba, surprised by his question. “No?”

He rolled his eyes. “I assumed as much.” He stepped toward you, taking hold of your locker door and shutting it. Then he pulled you into his chest, forcing you to duck your head so he could unlock and open his own locker.

He took out a lock and held it out for you.

“Thanks.” You took the lock and smiled at him. It would at least prevent your uniform from getting stolen again.

He didn’t respond.

The first bell rang, signalling that you didn’t have much time left to get to class.

He didn’t move.

You felt your smile slip off your face as he stared down at you. He seemed to have something to say, so you waited.

The second bell rang. You were now late for P.E. The locker room would be locked by the time you made it there.

Kaiba turned away, breaking eye-contact. You reached out and placed a hand on his arm. Your brain tried to fill in the blanks. “I’m sorry that you… I’m sorry I couldn’t take care of those girls myself.” You sighed and looked down at the floor. “Thanks for the lock… and the uniform… I’ll try to handle it myself in the future.”

Kaiba’s hands landed on your shoulders, and you looked up. Your breath caught in your throat at the fury on his face.

“Bullies are scum,” he said, emphasizing each word.

Your throat dried up, and you didn’t think you were capable of speak. So you just nodded. Had you ever seen Kaiba so angry?

“You can’t show weakness or they’ll keep coming after you, and I can’t always protect you even if…” His mouth snapped shut, and he took a step away, releasing your shoulders. “We’re late for class.”

You shrugged. Was there any point in worrying about it now? “We might as well skip P.E. today.”

He glared at you, and before he could say anything, you continued, “We’ll just get yelled at for being so late. I bet everyone is done changing.”

He didn’t say anything, but he didn’t start walking to class either.  

You didn’t feel like going to P.E, and you told yourself that it had nothing to do with the uniform incident. Just because those girls had stolen your clothes… that didn’t mean they would do anything else to you. It was in the past. It didn’t matter. You could lock your things up in the future just in case.

You told yourself that you were just too tired for P.E.

“Let’s skip the rest of the day and do something!” You grinned, stretching your mouth as wide as it would go, trying to summon all the enthusiasm you could, hoping Kaiba would go for the idea.

Kaiba opened his mouth but slammed it shut again. He clenched his teeth for a moment, studying your face. “Fine.” You could hear how painful that single word was for him, and that turned your fake smile into a real one.

Internally doing a happy dance, you turned back to your locker to get your stuff out. Maybe this would be your first real date with your boyfriend?


End file.
